Thursday November 19, 06:57 PM
US rail carloadings continue downward trend--AAR
WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (Reuters) - U.S. rail traffic fell 8.9 percent from a year ago, but several commodity shipments saw increases from the year-ago week, a trade group said on Thursday in a weekly report.
Carloadings on major U.S. railroads in the week ended Nov. 14 fell to 281,218 from 308,674 in the same 2008 week. They were down 17 percent from the identical week in 2007 before signs of the recession hit, the Association of American Railroads said.
'Each of the 2007 and 2008 comparison weeks to Nov. 14, 2009 included the Veterans Day Holiday,' AAR (NYSE: AIR - news) said.
Carloadings in the latest week, however, rose 2.3 percent from 274,846 reported a week ago by AAR.
Carloadings in the first 45 weeks of 2009 were 17.6 percent below the same period in 2008, still in line with an average decline of roughly 18 percent throughout the current year. They also fell by 18.3 percent from 2007.
AAR said compared to the year-ago week, carloadings of nonmetallic minerals were 19 percent higher while grain rose 16.1 percent. Increases were also seen in grain mill products, food and kindred products, chemicals, and in waste and scrap materials.
All other commodities tracked by the association fell from year-ago levels, with declines ranging from 0.1 percent in motor vehicles and equipment to 51.7 percent in metallic ores.
Consumer product-focused intermodal traffic transported 208,056 loaded truck trailers and shipping containers on flat railcars in the week, down 7.7 percent from the same 2008 week and off 15 percent from 2007.
Intermodal volume in the first 45 weeks of this year was off 15.9 percent from the comparable 2008 period and down 18.5 percent from 2007.
Despite the sluggish demand for commodities shipped by rail, earlier on Thursday the Conference Board said its U.S. leading indicators index, a measure of future economic conditions, rose for a seventh straight month in October.
Also this week the Commerce Department said U.S. October retail sales rose 1.4 percent after a 2.3 percent decline in September.
While the Labor Department also reported gains in both producer and consumer prices in October, after stripping volatile food and energy costs, wholesale prices fell 0.6 percent while the core CPI (NYSE: CPY - news) rose 0.2 percent.
AAR said total U.S. freight transportation in the first 45 weeks of 2009 reached an estimated 1.292 trillion ton-miles, down 16.6 percent from 1.550 trillion in the same 2008 period. Rail ton-miles also fell 16.9 percent from the first 45 weeks of 2007.
The ton-mile is a unit used by the association and represents one ton of freight hauled one mile.
The full weekly report is available at http://www.aar.org/NewsAndEvents/WeeklyTrafficReport.aspx
(Reporting by Melissa Bland; Editing by Marguerita Choy) Keywords: USA RAILCAR/LOADINGS
|
|
|
Send Article by Email
Send Article by IM
Blog This with Y! 360
Printable View
