MOSCOW (MRC) -- North American chemical railcar traffic rose for a third straight week - up by 5.3% year on year for the week ended 18 December - with increases in the US and Canada more than offsetting a decline in Mexico, according to the latest data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
For the first 50 weeks of 2021, ended 18 December, North American chemical railcar traffic was up by 4.3% year on year to 2.28m.
In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. In Canada, producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.
As per MRC, North American chemical railcar traffic rose by 3.3% year on year for the week ended 11 December, led by an 8.3% increase in the US that more than offset a decline in Canada, said Seanews. North American rail volume for the week ending November 27 on 12 reporting US, Canadian and Mexican railways totalled 295,807 carloads, down 4.4 per cent together with 281,953 intermodal units, a fall of 16.1 per cent year on year.
North American rail volume for the week ending December 18, 2021, on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 331,416 carloads, down 1.1 percent compared with the same week last year, and 349,986 intermodal units, down 7 percent compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 681,402 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.3 percent. North American rail volume for the first 50 weeks of 2021 was 34,480,405 carloads and intermodal units, up 4.8 percent compared with 2020.
MRC