Financial Edge, January 2019: Railway Age’s January Issue will be released early next month, but we thought we’d give our readers a Holiday treat with Financial Editor David Nahass’ column, which has a particularly relevant (and a bit tongue-in-cheek) Christmas theme centered around a famous Charles Dickens short story.
Traffic on U.S. railroads was 568,941 carloads and intermodal units for the week ending December 15, up 3.9% compared with the same week in 2017.
Short line operator OmniTRAX is partnering with forest products giant Georgia-Pacific on a transportation solution for the latter’s new plant in Albany, Ga.
For CSX, the fallout from former CEO E. Hunter Harrison’s December 2017 death only eight months after he was hired at a substantial premium continues. According to a Dec. 15, 2018 report by Andrew Pantazi in the Florida Times-Union, three CSX shareholders filed a derivative suit this year against the company’s board, “arguing it committed misconduct in hiring Harrison and not sharing information about Harrison’s health with shareholders before a 2017 vote to pay for an $84 million benefits package for [him].”
Weeks after federal officials called for improvements in grade-crossing safety nationwide, Indiana has stepped up with millions in state funding to help pay for life-saving projects. Gov. Eric Holcomb, along with officials
For the week of December 8, U.S. weekly rail traffic was 570,225 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.1% from the same week in 2017.
After a mostly steady climb through this year, rail freight volumes on Class I railroads are on a downgrade, and uncertainty in 2019 is looming like a blind curve in the dark.
Just a quarter-billion dollars separates the Port of Baltimore from joining the East Coast intermodal arms race, even with CSX back onboard to help reconstruct a key rail link to the marine gateway.
GM’s planned plant closings shadowed already-declining shipments of vehicles moving by rail in the U.S. despite a bounceback by commodities in the latest week’s data.
Amid roiling markets, weaker commodities and intermodal shipments may be signaling a correction for U.S. rail freight.
