(Source: Freight Waves, April 22, 2019)
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Here is this week’s strategic rail freight market view question for Freight Waves readers. Is rail freight growing in the U.S. market; or is it declining? The answer is complex. Economists can measure growth or decline in multiple ways. Therefore, the answer depends upon the market perspective. The overall answer as an economist comes down to a mixture of shipment volume trends, ton-miles of work performed (the classical definition of foot-pounds of physical movement executed), revenues earned and strength or weakness of pricing leverage, commodity segmentation of rail freight being moved, profitability, capital expenditures (capital investment to grow), and the railroads’ changing market share.
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