Western Railroad Discussion > UP carloadings for week 15...

compared to same week in 2017.


The downers:

Coal down 11%
Grain down 15%
Grain mill products down 7%
Stone/clay/glass down 5%
Autos/parts/equipment down 1%


The uppers:

Chemicals up 3% (#1 in carloads for week 15)
Crushed stone/gravel/sand up 7%
Petroleum products up 34%
Nonmetallic minerals up 6%
Food/kindred products up 9%
Lumber/wood products up 7%
Coking coal/petroleum coke up 9%
Metals/metal products up 26%
All other carloads up 20%
Intermodal containers up 6%
Intermodal trailers up 15%

Total carloadings up 3% over same week in 2017 (65,559 vs. 60,241)



Allen

Does anyone have any idea where the fifteen percent growth in trailers is coming from—I don’t know all their Intermodal trailer accounts but can’t see where this growth is coming from

Dale Smith

Posted from iPhone

Didn't UP pretty much seize UPS/FedEx traffic in the Chicago to Portland service lane, which is vital? Not to mention L.A. to Texas/southeast. No competition Salt Lake to Chicago either.

Compaired to BNSF,UP doesn't have a large base of trailer I/M busines, so a 15% gain doesn't franslate into a large unit count. It is still impressive however.

BNSF handles most of the FedEx/Yellow intermodal business out of Portland these days, while UP retains the bulk of the UPS business on that route.

Except for a couple of trains, I'm not seeing where the increases in tofc loadings are coming from on the UP, but nice to see. Maybe Uncle Pete is finally changing its tune on having trailers on the trains now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/18 08:06 by SPSF.

Trailers lift on and off just about as quickly as containers, and nobody has to go fetch a chassis. Or fix a chassis when it breaks.

So I guess if the money is there to make up for the extra space they comsume, why not run more trailers?

Someone mentioned in another thread that the ZCIG4 is seeing an increase in trailer loadings...

NYC6001 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So I guess if the money is there to make up for
> the extra space they comsume, why not run more
> trailers?

Because UP wants that business in the EMP/UMAX containers, and that has been the company policy for quite some time now. They will accept the trailer business, but would prefer to ship it in the boxes.

FiestaFoamer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Someone mentioned in another thread that the ZCIG4
> is seeing an increase in trailer loadings...

Those trains (both ways) and the ZLTG2s are doing well these days, but there must be some other symbols hauling more trailers out there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/18 12:46 by SPSF.

SPSF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FiestaFoamer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Someone mentioned in another thread that the
> ZCIG4
> > is seeing an increase in trailer loadings...
>
> Those trains (both ways) and the ZLTG2s are doing
> well these days, but there must be some other
> symbols hauling more trailers out there.

From watching tower 55 cam the southern corridor Z's are running about 10-20 trailers or so, which is less than the holiday rush but maybe a little more than this time last year. I was under impression the Brooklyn Z's were carrying less trailers than in the past, so it must be coming from ZLADV/ZDVSC or maybe from the Texas-St. Louis-Chicago Z trains.

SPMemphisFreight Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was under impression the Brooklyn Z's were carrying less
> trailers than in the past, so it must be coming
> from ZLADV/ZDVSC or maybe from the Texas-St.
> Louis-Chicago Z trains.

ZLADVs about the same as always, meaning not that much tofc, and sounds like the Hunt business has disappeared from those trains. Could be some LA-Dallas/Memphis Z trains seeing more trailers as of late. ZDVSCs usually have a mix of UPS loads/empties, with the empties returning to LA on the ISCLBs. ZSCG1s are doing pretty good with the tofc these days, but the Hunt business is gone from those trains as well now. The I-5 Zs are doing about the same, with the tofc biz down quite a bit compared to recent years. Really puzzling where the growth in trailer traffic is coming from on the UP.

You might be right on the trailer business increasing in some lanes farther east, like TX-Chicago.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/18 15:27 by SPSF.

SPSF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SPMemphisFreight Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I was under impression the Brooklyn Z's were
> carrying less
> > trailers than in the past, so it must be coming
> > from ZLADV/ZDVSC or maybe from the Texas-St.
> > Louis-Chicago Z trains.
>
> ZLADVs about the same as always, meaning not that
> much tofc, and sounds like the Hunt business has
> disappeared from those trains. Could be some
> LA-Dallas/Memphis Z trains seeing more trailers as
> of late. ZDVSCs usually have a mix of UPS
> loads/empties, with the empties returning to LA on
> the ISCLBs. ZSCG1s are doing pretty good with the
> tofc these days, but the Hunt business is gone
> from those trains as well now. The I-5 Zs are
> doing about the same, with the tofc biz down quite
> a bit compared to recent years. Really puzzling
> where the growth in trailer traffic is coming from
> on the UP.
>
> You might be right on the trailer business
> increasing in some lanes farther east, like
> TX-Chicago.

As someone said, these increases are small in number even if large in percentage, so the ZLCAI/ZAILC seems to be carrying a little more than last year with Fed Ex, ABF, UPS, Prime, Stevens, YRC occasional Saia, Walmart, others, but the ZLAMQs and ZMQLCs don't seem to be much different. Maybe less. Memphis Z train has been carrying XPO trailers of late, sometimes 7-10, among others like YRC, Marten, Prime, UPS ocnl FedEx. Maybe that's part of it. I don't get a chance to visit the old Cotton Belt/MoP lines very much so don't see the Z trains and there are few if any webcams on those lanes. A cam at Texarkana would be nice, and it could also get the KCS.

I guess what we are seeing in the fifteen per cent growth is the base number is quite low

Dale Smith

I think a webcam on the Sunset Route somewhere west of El Paso would be nice, but you never hear any talk of somebody doing one. I think there are enough of those cameras now on the BNSF to cover the different areas on the transcon.

And UP has been running such small amounts of tofc over the years that any kind of increase is going to show up strong on the carloadings chart. Let's see if it continues to build. Am seeing some new trucking customers on the UP Z trains, but a lot of those lines are BNSF regulars, so don't know how long the new business will last. Seen this play out before too many times in the past.