Coal news and updates

US coal carload volumes reach highest total since March: AAR

Coal carload volumes originated on US railroads stayed above the 100,000 mark for the third straight week and reached a total not seen since March, Association of American Railroads data showed Wednesday.

For the week ending August 8, the AAR reported 105,965 coal carloads, up 5.3% from the prior week but down 7.1% from the year-ago week.

It was the highest coal volumes reported since 106,484 carloads in the week ending March 28. Coal carload volumes were below 100,000 for 11 straight weeks prior to gains in the last week of July.

Coal volumes sank to 82,924 carloads for the week ending July 4, which was the lowest total since the final week of 1991, according to the AAR. Overall US rail traffic for the week totaled 562,884 cars, and coal made up 18.8% of all traffic.

Year-to-date US coal carload originations total 3.118 million, down 9.5% compared with the same period last year.

Canadian railroads -- which include the US operations of Canadian National, which serves several mines in the Illinois Basin, and Canadian Pacific -- originated 8,264 coal carloads, up 20.6% from the prior week but down 7.8% from the same week last year.

Year to date, coal carloads on Canadian railroads are down 10.5%.

BNSF ONLY MAJOR RAILROAD WITH COAL SHIPMENT INCREASE

For the week, coal carloads volumes for the four largest US railroads, which includes originations and interchange movements, were down for all but BNSF.

BNSF reported 42,233 coal carloads, up 12.2%, or 5,118 carloads, from the previous week and a 14.2% increase over the year-ago week. Coal made up 22.9% of all traffic, which reached a year-high 206,602 carloads.

Year to date, coal shipments are up 2.9%, or 38,0093 carloads, for BNSF, the only major US railroad with an overall increase in coal shipments in 2015. Third-quarter volumes are up 4.4% compared to 2014.

Union Pacific reported 30,129 coal carloads, down 1.8% from the previous week. It was a 15.5% decrease over the year-ago week, and coal made up 16.6% of all traffic.

Union Pacific coal shipments are down 15% in the third quarter and down 16.7% year to date.

CSX reported 18,386 coal carloads, down 7.9% from the previous week. It was a 17.3% decrease in volumes from the year-ago week, and coal made up 13.7% of all traffic.

Coal carload volumes have fallen week over week for CSX in nine of the last 18 weeks. Coal shipments are down 20.1% in the third quarter and down 12% year to date.

Norfolk Southern reported 19,720 coal carloads, down 8.3% from the previous week. It was a 20.8% decrease in volumes from the year-ago week, and coal made up 13.4% of all traffic.

Norfolk Southern coal shipments are down 19.9% in the third quarter and down 17.2% year to date.

source: http://www.platts.com