It has been a few months since we provided the total monthly carload data. Following is a monthly update on United States rail freight traffic by sector with Canadian totals, with a focus on carloads. The data in the table is from the September 2021 issue of Railway Age, and we have added a column that shows typical car types for ease of reference. Each month, when this data is published, the report is for the second-previous month. Here is the current information reported, which covers in this case the four weeks ending July 31:
Major US Railroads
Commodity
Typical Car Type (s)
July 2021
July 2020
% Change
Grain
Covered Hopper
77,094
83,206
-7.35%
Farm Products ex. Grain
Covered Hopper, Gondola
2,478
3,087
-19.73%
Grain Mill Products
Covered Hopper
35,236
37,098
-5.02%
Food Products
Boxcar, Tankcar, other
22,138
23,022
-3.84%
Chemicals
Boxcar, Tankcar, other
128,713
121,616
5.84%
Petroleum & Petroleum Products
Tankcar
41,112
41,316
-0.49%
Coal
Gondola
256,656
224,946
14.10%
Primary Forest Products
Flatcar, Gondola
3,956
3,956
0.00%
Lumber & Wood Products
Flatcar
12,473
13,005
-4.09%
Pulp & Paper Products
Boxcar
22,854
19,514
17.12%
Metallic Ores
Open top Hopper, Gondola
24,418
10,267
137.83%
Coke
Open top Hopper
14,896
11,473
29.84%
Primary Metal Products
Gondola, Flatcar, Boxcars
36,751
26,949
36.37%
Iron & Steel Scrap
Gondola
17,204
12,929
33.07%
Motor Vehicles & Parts
Autorack, Boxcar, Flatcar
45,502
57,811
-21.29%
Crushed Stone, Sand & Gravel
Open top Hopper, Gondola
77,877
74,242
4.90%
Nonmetallic Minerals
Open top Hopper, Gondola
15,012
15,023
-0.07%
Stone, Clay & Glass Products
Covered Hopper, Open top Hopper, etc.
32,702
32,538
0.50%
Waste & Nonferrous Scrap
Gondola
15,975
14,208
12.44%
All other carloads
n/a
21,714
22,495
-3.47%
Total US Carloads
904,761
848,701
6.61%
Canadian Carloads
284,776
286,245
-0.51%
Combined US & Canadian Carloads
1,189,537
1,134,946
4.81%
We were surprised to see the data in this table is different (for July 2020) than what had been reported last year and can only assume there is a lag in finalizing the carload data. In some cases the differences were not great, in others it was measurable. It is truly disappointing to see just a 6.6% increase over July Pandemic Year One in total carloads. And, for a couple of categories, the declines are notable; namely motor vehicles and parts. Today’s business news is again indicating that car manufacturers are unable to meet production guarantees. Another troubling fact that seems to be overlooked somewhat in the business news is that there is a growing body of evidence to suggest this pandemic may last a very long time; infection rates this year are higher than last year in many areas, including those having a high degree of vaccinations. And, even more mutated forms are now emerging.