Houston—US coal carload originations jumped to a 13-month high 65,632 in the week that ended March 6, up 11.9% from 58,634 a week earlier and the most since 69,261 in the week ended Feb. 1, 2020, according to a March 10 report from the Association of American Railroads.
The latest week was also up 11.8% from the year-ago week, which was the first yearly increase in 11 months. However, the 65,632 was 11.3% lower than the five-year average for the corresponding week.Coal carloads represented 12.7% of all the traffic on US railways, up from 12.1% a week earlier but down from 13% in the year-ago week.
Since Jan. 1, cumulative coal carloads are at 530,902, down 10.2% from the same period a year ago.
Coal originations on Canadian railroads–including the US operations of Canadian National, which serves several mines in the Illinois Basin–fell to 6,781 carloads, down 0.3% from a week earlier and 19.4% lower than the year-ago week. It was the lowest carloads for the corresponding week since 6,216 in the week ended March 3, 2018.
For only the sixth time in the last six years, all four major Class I railroads -- Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific and BNSF–saw weekly increases and year-on-year growths.
BNSF reported 28,462 coal carload originations and interchanges in the latest week, up 15.8% from the prior week and 11.5% higher than in the year-ago week, according to rail-reported data. It was the first year-on-year increase since rising 16.2% in the week ended March 28, 2020.
So far in 2021, total BNSF carloads are at 233,293, down 13.6% from the same period a year earlier.
Union Pacific reported 14,756 coal carload movements in the most recent week, up 8.9% from the previous week and 6.7% higher year on year.
Cumulative coal carloads so far in 2021 for UP are at 114,807, down 16.2% from the same period a year ago.
CSX coal carloads jumped to a 13-month high 13,774, up 18.5% from a week earlier and 8.9% higher than the year-ago week. It was the most movements in a week since 14,442 in the week ended Jan. 18, 2020.
Since Jan. 1, CSX coal carloads have totaled 111,663, down 4.7% from a year ago.
Norfolk Southern reported a seven-week high 12,659 coal cars loaded in the latest week, up 0.8% from the prior week and 19.5% on the year.
Total coal carloads for NS are at 107,100 since Jan. 1, down 0.5% from the same period a year ago.
