Weekly coal carloads originated by US railroads jumped 4.6% on a year-over-year basis in the week ended May 24, as both BNSF Railway and CSX showed strong gains in weekly coal deliveries, according to data from the Association of American Railroad released Thursday.
AAR said Thursday that US railroads originated 112,672 carloads for the week, up 1.9% from the prior week. The increase also halted an eight-week slide in weekly volumes.
A pick-up in coal carloads is needed if US utilities hope to rebuild their generally depleted coal stockpiles in time for the summer burn. For the year, the AAR reports US coal carloads total more than 2.3 million, up 1.5% from 2013.
The increase in weekly US volumes comes despite a drop in US coal production, which is down 0.3% compared with last year, according to US Energy Information Administration estimates issued Thursday.
For the year, US coal carloads total more than 2.2 million, up 1.3% compared with the year-ago period.
The Canadian railroads, including the US operations of Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, originated 9,483 coal carloads during the week, down 7.7% from the prior week but up 19% from the year-ago week, according to the AAR.
Canadian coal originations year-to-date total 189,189 carloads, down 0.8% from last year.
For both the US and Canada, year-to-date carloadings are up 1.3% compared with 2013.
In the US, the four largest US railroads reported handling -- including originations and interchange -- the following weekly coal and coke carloads:
BNSF reported 41,452 weekly coal carloads, down 4.4% from the prior week but up 9.4% from the year-ago week. For the year, the railroad's coal carloads total 913,757, up 6.1% compared with 2013.
Union Pacific reported 31,668 weekly coal carloads, up 1.8% from the prior week but down 3% from last year. Year-to-date coal carloads total 676,853, up 5.2% from last year.
CSX reported 23,459 weekly coal carloads, up 12.6% from the prior week and up 9.1% from last year. For the year, coal carloads total 462,620, up 3.1%.
Norfolk Southern reported 25,937 weekly coal carloads, down 0.7% from the prior week but down 1.3% from 2013. For the year, coal carloads total 498,804, down 8% from last year.
Weekly US carload originations of coke, which includes petroleum coke and coke from coal, totaled 3,726 for the week ending May 24, up 2.1% from last year, according to the AAR. Year-to-date coke carloads total 77,205, up 0.5% from last year.
BNSF reported 620 weekly coke carloads, up 23% from last year. Year-to-date coke carloads total 11,057, down 9.1% from last year.
Union Pacific reported 495 weekly coke carloads, down 9% from last year. For the year, coke carloads total 10,018, up 2% from last year.
CSX reported 1,149 weekly coke carloads, down 12.9% from the year-ago week. For the year, coke carloads total 23,097, down 19.2%.
Norfolk Southern reported 1,099 weekly coke carloads, up 25.9% from the year-ago week. For the year, coke carloads total 23,396, up 20.1%.
