(Bloomberg News circulated the following story by Craig Trudell on September 8, 2010.)
NEW YORK — Norfolk Southern Corp. and CSX Corp. said shipping volumes have risen more than 10 percent in the current quarter as demand remains strong in most markets.
Volume increased 11 percent at CSX and 14 percent at Norfolk Southern in the third quarter through Aug. 20, executives said at the Dahlman Rose & Co. Global Transportation Conference today in New York.
“The recovery may be choppy and uneven — and that may be an understatement — but it is a recovery,” Norfolk Southern Chief Executive Officer Charles “Wick” Moorman said in a presentation. “We don’t expect anything that looks like the much-discussed double-dip. We don’t see what precipitates it, don’t see it in our carloads and don’t hear it when we talk to our customers.”
Norfolk Southern, the second-largest U.S. railroad by market capitalization, and CSX, the third-largest, ship materials such as coal, chemicals and lumber as well as finished products including automobiles.
CSX Chief Financial Officer Oscar Munoz said today demand may hold up in 90 percent of the company’s markets and that the housing industry is “a little unstable.”
CSX is expected to report third-quarter earnings on Oct. 19, and Norfolk Southern is expected to report Oct. 26, according to Bloomberg estimates.
Norfolk, Virginia-based Norfolk Southern rose 72 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $58.38 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Jacksonville, Florida-based CSX climbed $1.18, or 2.2 percent, to $54.65.
Union Pacific Corp., based in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest U.S. railroad by market capitalization. Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC was acquired by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. earlier this year.