Yahoo Finance How Did Genesee & Wyoming’s North American Carloads Trend in April?
North American Rail Traffic Saw Double-Digit Slump
GWR’s North American carloads
In April 2016, Genesee and Wyoming’s (GWR) North American traffic fell by 12.8% compared with the same period last year. The company hauled 124,869 railcars in April 2016 compared with 143,182 railcars in 2015. Railcars other than coal and coke fell by 7.2%.
GWR’s coal carloads
Coal, including coke, took a huge toll on Genesee and Wyoming’s (GWR) railcars in April 2016. This commodity group reported a 40% fall in the same period compared with April 2015.
The decline in coal was mainly due to reduced shipments of utility coal in G&W’s Midwest, Ohio Valley, Northeast, and Central regions. Coal and coke carloads constituted 20.0% and 16.3% of the company’s total carloads in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Revenue-wise, coal and coke remained in the 10%–13% range for the same periods.
Railroads like Norfolk Southern (NSC), CSX (CSX), Kansas City Southern (KSU), Canadian National Railway (CNI), and Union Pacific (UNP) provide traffic data on a weekly basis. On the other hand, Genesee and Wyoming reports its data on a monthly basis. GWR is not a Class I railroad like other railroads we’ve discussed in this series. However, given its area of operations, GWR is often compared with Class I rail carriers.
The frontrunner commodity groups
The company recorded a slight change of -1% in auto and auto parts railcars in April 2016. GWR reported volume growth only in metal commodity groups. All other commodity groups were in the negative volume zone. GWR’s metals railcars grew due to increased steel shipments in GWR’s southern regions. Minerals and stone traffic fell due to weaker fractionating sand and salt shipments. Pulp and paper traffic fell due to lower shipments in G&W’s Canada, Southern, and Pacific regions.
The transportation and logistics sector forms part of the industrial sector. The ProShares Ultra S&P 500 ETF (SSO) invests ~7.6% of its holdings in the industrial sector.
For information on the previous week’s rail traffic, visit Market Realist’s Week Ended April 30: North American Rail Traffic Falls, Mexico Up.
Browse this series on Market Realist:
