(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on the Journal of Commerce website on April 16, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A surge in chemicals and other industrial cargoes, plus strength in construction materials pushed weekly traffic at small railroads in North America to the highest level in more than a year.
The RMI RailConnect index, a snapshot of volume for 340 short lines and regional railroads in the U.S. and Canada, showed total shipments of 99,572 new loads in the week ending April 10, up from 96,291 a week earlier and marked by recent new highs in a number of categories.
The volume for RMI-reporting carriers was also up 20.6 percent from the same week last year, which was a time when rail activity was nearing its lows of the recession. Over the first 14 weeks of 2010, short line traffic is up 5 percent in the RMI gauge.
RMI said those carriers picked up 15,426 new shipments of chemicals in the latest week, the strongest level in a month for the largest short line cargo and one that reflect demand in many types of factory and agricultural processes.
A grouping of construction base materials – stone, clay and aggregates – jumped to the second-largest short line cargo of the week. Its 12,334 new loads were up from 10,970 for the April 3 week, was the strongest volume in many months and was 53 percent ahead of the same week in 2009. Lumber shipments also increased week to week, and were up 21 percent from a year earlier.
That can partly reflect some of the thousands of stimulus-funded work projects under way around the nation, but could also suggest that a March increase in new multi-family home building is carrying into April. See “Housing Construction Shows Life” and “Large Railroads See Rebound in Weekly Traffic.”
Other cargo gains point to a new breath in factory demand that had moderated for about a month. Originations of carloads filled with metals or products jumped and finished vehicle loadings edged higher. New hauls of ore, scrap materials and petroleum or coke used for steel mills all perked up.