North American chem rail traffic rises

MRC — North American chemical rail traffic rose for a ninth consecutive week, with railcar loadings for the week ended 14 October up 0.3% year on year to 44,668, according Association of American Railroads.

For the first 41 weeks of 2023 ended 14 October, North American chemical rail traffic was down 1.1% year on year to 1,857,880 – with the US down 2.3% to 1,275,816.

In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. In Canada, chemical producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.

We remind, for last week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 499,217 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.0 percent compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending October 7 were 233,768 carloads, up 3.6 percent compared with the same week in 2022, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 265,449 containers and trailers, up 2.5 percent compared to 2022.

https://www.mrchub.com/news/409834-north-american-chem-rail-traffic-rises