Rail

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 1/1/2000

After swinging up and down in August and September, average rail rates barely budged in October and November. It now appears that linehaul operators will record a 0.4% overall rate decline during 1999. Weakness in the agricultural sector partially explains the drop. In November, the price of hauling farm products by rail fell 1.3% from October levels. Overall in 1999, rates for hauling agricultural goods fell 1.6% and rates for moving finished food products dropped 7.5%. The forecast calls for average linehaul rates to rise 0.2% in 2000.

% CHANGE VS.: 1 month ago 6 mos. ago 1 yr. ago

Coal/Petroleum -0.1 -0.1 0.0

Chemicals 0.0 +0.1 -0.6

Farm products -1.3 +1.7 +1.6

Motor vehicles -0.3 -0.3 -0.3

Metallic ores 0.0 -2.8 0.0

Source: Thinking Cap Solutions