(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on October 7, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — With an increase in chemical tankcar shipments that make up their largest commodity category, North America’s regional and short line railroads set back-to-back 2010 volume peaks in the last two weeks.
The 343 carriers tracked by RMI’s RailConnect report — which is more than half the estimated 550 short lines in the U.S. and Canada – originated 106,232 shipments of all types in the week ending Oct. 2, after 104,254 in the Sept. 25 week.
Before that, their 2010 peak volume had been the seven days ending Sept. 4, when they picked up 103,354 loads. RMI said the 106,232 loads in this year’s week 39 is the strongest since 109,441 in week 47 of 2008, which would have been a point that November just before traffic plunged as the financial crisis slashed freight demand.
Small railroads mainly specialize in a few commodities, and their top categories are chemicals, grain and a group of road-building or site-preparation construction materials of stone, clay and rock aggregate.
Chemical volume has been solid for a number of recent weeks, both for short lines and major railroads, but small railroads had their highest volume in chemicals this year with 16,494 carloads in the Oct. 2 week. Since chemicals are used in a wide range of industrial processes, from plastics to paints to pharmaceuticals, that suggests renewed demand from the factory sector for raw materials.
Intermodal volume is not a major part of the short line business, accounting for only about 7 percent of their overall traffic this year. However, RMI-reporting railroads originated more intermodal loads in the Oct. 2 week than any other period this year, with 8,397 loads compared with their previous 2010 peak of 8,121 three weeks earlier.