Coal shipment volumes originated on US railroads fell near a year-low mark during the Thanksgiving holiday week, Association of American Railroads data showed Wednesday.
For the week that ended Saturday, AAR reported a total of 86,194 coal carloads traveled US railways, down 23% from the week before. Coal shipments through rail were only lower in the week that ended July 4, another holiday week, with a volume of 82,924 carloads.
Coal carload volumes dipped below the 100,000 mark in seven of the last eight weeks and in 22 of 47 weeks this year. Coal volumes were above 100,000 carloads in every week of 2014.
Coal originations this year average 100,432 carloads a week, down 11,412 carloads from 2014.
So far this year, US coal originations on the railroads are down 10.3% from 2014, at about 4.72 million carloads.
Overall, US rail traffic for the holiday week hit a year-low 450,389 cars, with coal making up 19.1% of all traffic.
Canadian railroads -- which include the US operations of Canadian National that serves several mines in the Illinois Basin, and Canadian Pacific -- originated 7,988 coal carloads, up 9.7% from the prior week and 4.1% from the same week a year ago.
Year to date, coal volumes on Canadian railroads have fallen 12.2% to 374,106 total carloads.
COAL VOLUMES STEADY IN WEST, PLUMMET IN EAST
Coal carload volumes, which include originations and interchange movements, rose slightly from the previous week in the West for BNSF and Union Pacific, but fell sharply in the East for CSX and Norfolk Southern.
UP reported 25,929 coal carloads, up 2.9% from the previous week, but down 26.9% from the year-ago week, with coal making up 17.3% of all traffic.
UP coal shipments are down 21% in the fourth quarter and 17% in the year to date, the most of all major US railroads.
BNSF reported 43,377 coal carloads, up 2.1% from the previous week but down 3.7% from the year-ago week, with coal making up 24.4% of all traffic.
Year to date, coal shipments are up 2.9%, or 59,768 carloads, for BNSF, the only major US railroad with an overall increase in coal shipments in 2015. Q4 volumes are nearly flat with 2014, down just 479 carloads.
CSX reported 12,614 coal carloads, down 25.7% from the previous week. It was a 34.4% decrease in volumes from the year-ago week, with coal making up 11.4% of all traffic. Coal shipments for CSX are down 33.3% in Q4 and 16.6% year to date.
NS reported a year-low 14,489 coal carloads, down 21.1% from the previous week and a 33.6% decrease in volumes from the year-ago week, with coal making up 12.3% of all traffic. NS coal shipments are down 13.6% in Q4 and 16% year to date.
