Posted on 08/07/2009 6:59:32 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
U.S. rail hauls of metal cargoes reach highest level yet in 2009
A traffic recovery for large U.S. railroads picked up steam in the week ending Aug. 1, adding to signs that freight demand may be on a sustained climb from recession lows.
The Class I carriers and a few regionals that report to the Association of American Railroads said their U.S. operations carried 274,728 bulk carloads, up nearly 800 from a week earlier. Train hauls of intermodal boxes, containers and trailers combined, hit 193,332 units for a gain of about 350.
From the same week in 2008, carloads were down 18.3 percent and intermodal down 16.1 percent. But for the second straight week carloads were their strongest since March 21 while intermodal volume was the most since Jan. 24.
The year-to-date peak in metal shipments – to 7,727 carloads -- came amid a sustained recent pickup in scrap metal loadings, consistent with demand from metal furnaces to use cheap scrap inputs along with costlier ore when they are getting more metal product orders from other factories.
Other cargoes swelling rail traffic in the latest week included the strongest grain volume since Feb. 14 at 20,983 hopper carloads, chemicals with 27,846 tank cars at their highest since Feb. 28, and pulp or paper shipments the most since Jan. 17 at 5,989 units.
Intersting. Thanks for posting!
“The increases are pretty miniscule, and seem related mostly to providing metal for the resumption of production at auto plants around the country which have been idle the last couple months.”
Maybe they are the remains of the cash for clunkers that were turned in!
C for C tax program perhaps via taxpayer $$$?
Rail the auto metal to the coast then ship it to China for reconstruction into something new to resell it to us again so we can pay sales tax on it.
What will the transoceanic shipping do on the market these days to come?
0.3 % and 0.18 % increases respectively. Big woop. Cargo is hardly "swelling"
Glad to see you posting this information since last fall. It’s a finger on the pulse of the economy I found years ago as I was heavily involved in the shipping industry before I retired. My wife still is, and we still to this day regard the movement of freight as a good indicator of the health of the economy.
Nationally truckload haulers are still looking for that elusive freight. Those that have rail Intermodal divisions know where most of what freight exists is going.
Not that many out there anymore that avoid the rail as there was upon a time.
The stocks have been doing pretty well lately, but like most things, they don't have much reason for it. Medium to long term, there have been carriers that have gone bankrupt, some are getting new financing, and some, which already have some connection to governments, might be nationalized in a GM-ish arrangement.
Ping
Hubby drives a train and was very surprised to get a bonus check for the last quarter today. IT Has been VERY SLOW for those guys. But, he says the last week has been really busy, so hopefully this is a true report and it’s only going to get better.
“This is the peak season for holiday shipping, a very important time.”
Thats what I was going to say. Plus, reefer traffic still high this time of year, so truck freight probably still a little high side.
parsy who once worked in the trucking business and had to change his name.
You don’t live in Mississippi do you? Rocking S?
parsy, who was a broker, that is someone who made trucking companies a lot broker than they already were
Speaking of traffic.....why is it better at Christmas time?
Pre Christmas its better. Stores and distribution centers stocking up. Freight gets slow in November and December, at least in trucking business.
parsy, who got lessons in cursing his first day at work.
parsi,
I was refering to this traffic....”Plus, reefer traffic still high this time of year”
LOL No. California.
Yes I know about Brokers. When the freight is good, every morning starts out with messages from headquarters “Don’t book ANY Broker freight period.” When the freight isn’t good such as now the mornings start with a message from headquarters “Book everything you can including Broker freight”.
See!? I know you guys. My wife has been with the company for 31 years, and I get to hear all about it.
Oops, I missed that little faux pas! Reefer is slang for a refrigerated unit. But yes, many reefers do ship reefer material.
parsy, who is drinking S Pelligrino and not anything else, he swears
Baltic Dry Index Has Worst Week Since October Meltdown As Chinese Demand Slows
Good! Because I think we went out of business owing that company some money. We were back in business the next day under a different name. We all had to get different names, too to keep from getting killed.
Had a little problem or two which broke the company. I had the brilliant idea of setting up a collection agency so when angry truckers came to the address looking for the evil brokers, they would come in and lo and behold it was a collection agency.
Of course when they asked for us, I went into my spiel about if i knew where those rascals were, I could make a zillion dollars because they owed everybody in the country.
I would cuss all of them (us) out for being a bunch of worthless deadbeats, and the truckers of course agreed and would leave heading off for whatever state I heard that bunch had absconded to. I seem to recall sending a bunch of them to El Paso and New Mexico looking for us.
Meanwhile, all my buds on the other side of the wall would be trying to keep from bursting out laughing at the horrible stuff I was saying about us. O, those were the days. Back in the 80’s...
So about half of my friends know me as _____ and the other half as _______.
parsy, who came up the hard way .
parsy, who once worked at Enron?
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