North American chemical railcar traffic rose by 1.0% year on year to 46,133 loadings for the week ended 13 August, according to the latest freight rail data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
Increases in Canada and Mexico more than offset an 0.2% decline in US shipments. The week before, North American chemical railcar traffic fell by 1.1%. The four-week average for North American chemical rail traffic was at 46,706 railcar loadings, holding nearly unchanged week on week.
For the first 32 weeks of 2022 ended 13 August, North American chemical railcar traffic was up 2.2% year on year to 1,494,580 railcar loadings. 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.
Shipments of chemicals, coal, motor vehicles and parts, and nonmetallic minerals rose for the first 32 weeks, while shipments in all other freight railcar categories fell.
We remind, North American chemical railcar traffic fell by 1.1% year on year to 45,842 loadings for the week ended 6 August. Increases in Canada and Mexico were more than offset by a 4.1% decline in US shipments. The week before, North American chemical railcar traffic rose 2.1%.
mrchub.com