NEWS & ANALYSIS
Petroleum coke rail shipments rise
Railroads hauled more petroleum coke in the second quarter of 2017, and mostly charged shippers more to do it, compared with the prior year period.
Five of the seven Class I carriers moved more petroleum coke. Six of them charged shippers higher rates.
Shippers moving goods on Canadian National's (CN) US lines were the only ones to catch a price reduction compared with 2016. CN's rates fell by 23pc to $5.27/short ton in the latest period.
By comparison, Canadian Pacific's (CP) US lines, which have a significantly longer length of haul, increased by 14pc to $20.18/railcar, the second largest increase of any Class I carrier.
Eastern railroad CSX led the way in terms of price increases with an 18pc gain, to $18.57/railcar. Norfolk Southern (NS) rates increased at just a 1.9pc rate between 2016 and 2017, but its absolute cost to move petroleum coke was significantly higher. NS shippers paid $39.61/railcar in the second quarter of 2017.
Western railroads showed a similar pattern. Union Pacific (UP) increased rates by 5.9pc to $21.60/st in the second quarter, but BNSF's pricing was nearly flat, up by 0.6pc to $29.46/st.
Kansas City Southern (KCS), the smallest Class I carrier, increased its rates by 10pc to $5.32/st despite lower lengths of haul.
The broadly stronger rates at carriers were supported by more movements of petroleum coke at all railroads except BNSF and CP.
BNSF's tonnage fell by 11pc to 518,290st (471,172 metric tonnes), while CP moved 35pc less product at 6,021st. CN's US lines might have picked up some of the volumes — its tonnage more than doubled to 816,991st in the quarter. The 118pc increase, compared with the second quarter in 2016, was by far the largest gain of any Class I carrier.
The next largest increase came at NS, where 18pc more petroleum coke was shipped. The eastern railroad moved 77,086st of petroleum coke in the second quarter.
CSX's traffic increased by 4.2pc to 797,456 over the same period.
In the west, UP volumes increased by 14pc to 1.2mn st in the second quarter, while KCS' tonnage gained 8.8pc to 1.1mn st despite a limited length of haul.
Shippers moving goods on Canadian National's (CN) US lines were the only ones to catch a price reduction compared with 2016. CN's rates fell by 23pc to $5.27/short ton in the latest period.
By comparison, Canadian Pacific's (CP) US lines, which have a significantly longer length of haul, increased by 14pc to $20.18/railcar, the second largest increase of any Class I carrier.
Eastern railroad CSX led the way in terms of price increases with an 18pc gain, to $18.57/railcar. Norfolk Southern (NS) rates increased at just a 1.9pc rate between 2016 and 2017, but its absolute cost to move petroleum coke was significantly higher. NS shippers paid $39.61/railcar in the second quarter of 2017.
Western railroads showed a similar pattern. Union Pacific (UP) increased rates by 5.9pc to $21.60/st in the second quarter, but BNSF's pricing was nearly flat, up by 0.6pc to $29.46/st.
Kansas City Southern (KCS), the smallest Class I carrier, increased its rates by 10pc to $5.32/st despite lower lengths of haul.
The broadly stronger rates at carriers were supported by more movements of petroleum coke at all railroads except BNSF and CP.
BNSF's tonnage fell by 11pc to 518,290st (471,172 metric tonnes), while CP moved 35pc less product at 6,021st. CN's US lines might have picked up some of the volumes — its tonnage more than doubled to 816,991st in the quarter. The 118pc increase, compared with the second quarter in 2016, was by far the largest gain of any Class I carrier.
The next largest increase came at NS, where 18pc more petroleum coke was shipped. The eastern railroad moved 77,086st of petroleum coke in the second quarter.
CSX's traffic increased by 4.2pc to 797,456 over the same period.
In the west, UP volumes increased by 14pc to 1.2mn st in the second quarter, while KCS' tonnage gained 8.8pc to 1.1mn st despite a limited length of haul.
This analysis was published in Energy Argus Petroleum Coke.
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Energy Argus Petroleum Coke
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