Coal shipment volumes originated on US railroads were relatively flat week on week, Association of American Railroads data showed Wednesday.
For the week that ended Saturday, the AAR said a total of 92,934 coal carloads traveled US railways, a 0.1% increase in volumes from the prior week.
Coal carload volumes have dipped below the 100,000 mark in nine of the last 10 weeks and in 24 of 49 weeks this year. Coal volumes were above 100,000 carloads in every week of 2014.
In each of the last three weeks, coal carload volumes have been at least 21.8% lower compared with the year-ago period.
Coal originations this year average 100,123 carloads a week, down 11,721 carloads from 2014.
Year to date, US coal originations on the railroads are about 4.91 million carloads down 10.8% from 2014.
Overall US rail traffic for the week totaled 544,975 cars, and coal made up 17.1% of all traffic.
Canadian railroads -- which include the US operations of Canadian National, which serves several mines in the Illinois Basin, and Canadian Pacific -- originated 7,555 coal carloads, down 4.9% from the prior and 11.2% from the same week last year.
Year to date, coal volumes on Canadian railroads have fallen 12.2% to 389,606 total carloads.
UP, NS POST COAL VOLUME GAINS
Coal carload volumes, which include originations and interchange movements, were up from the previous week for Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, but down for BNSF and CSX.
UP reported 26,456 coal carloads, up 1.7% from the previous week but down 28% from the year-ago week. Coal made up 15.2% of all traffic. Shipments slid 23% in the fourth quarter and 17.5% year to date, the most of all major US railroads.
NS reported 18,551 coal carloads, up 2% from the previous week, but down 20.8% from the year-ago week. Coal made up 12.9% of all traffic. Shipments fell 15.2% in Q4 and 16.2% year to date.
CSX reported 17,465 coal carloads, down 2.5% from the previous week and 28.1% from a year ago. Coal made up 14.9% of all traffic. Shipments dropped 31.4% in Q4 and 17% year to date.
BNSF reported 41,571 coal carloads, down 0.3% from the previous week and 13.8% from the year-ago week. Coal made up 20.9% of all traffic. Year to date, coal shipments for BNSF rose 2.3%, or 49.304 carloads, the only major US railroad with an overall increase in coal shipments in 2015. But Q4 volumes are down 2.4% from 2014.
