WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. railroads carried 7.4 percent more consumer goods in April, and chemical shipments increased for the first time in 23 months, in signs of an economic recovery, according to a wire service report.
Chemical shipments increased 6.1 percent from the year-earlier month, after a first-quarter drop of 0.6 percent, said the Association of American Railroads, a trade group that includes Union Pacific Corp., Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. and other carriers. Consumer goods such as electronics hauled by a rail-truck combination reversed a 0.4 percent first-quarter drop.
Shares of both companies. Burlington Northern, based in Fort Worth, rose 8.15 cents to $28.1815 on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of UP, which has a major yard in Fort Worth, rose 20 cents to $58.60 on the same exchange.
The rise in chemical shipments “appears to be a sign that industrial users of chemicals are increasing production,” said Thomas White, a spokesman for the trade group. “Railroads haul chemicals that are used to manufacture other products, like plastic pellets that are used to make soda bottles.”
Freight shipments by air and truck also are rising. U.S. air cargo in March was the highest since October 2000, said A.G. Edwards analyst Donald Broughton, citing statistics from the Air Transport Association trade group. First-quarter truck tonnage rose 0.3 percent, said Robert Costello, an economist for the American Trucking Associations trade group.
Railroad shipments of autos increased 9.3 percent in April as automakers boosted production. Total shipments rose fastest, 4.6 percent, at Union Pacific, the largest U.S. railroad. The biggest drop, 1.9 percent, was at CSX Corp., as coal shipments by the third-biggest U.S. railroad fell 12 percent.