Inside GWR’s European Carload Rise in January

Genesee & Wyoming’s (GWR) European carloads rose 11.2% YoY (year-over-year) in January 2017. During the same period of 2016, GWR hauled ~79,000 railcars, as compared to ~88,000 in January 2017. With the acquisition of Freightliner, GWR’s European operations assumed much significance. GWR’s other-than-coal carloads also rose a significant 11.7% in January 2017 on a YoY basis.

The rise in European carloads in January was mainly due to rise in intermodal volumes along with minerals and products. Coal and coke carloads reported a slight rise of 1.4% in January 2017. The rise in intermodal volumes was the result of increased traffic in the UK and Continental Europe.

For Genesee & Wyoming, the term “carload” represents physical railcars and the estimated railcar equivalents of commodities, for which the company is paid. Genesee & Wyoming has often compared with Class I railroads since its operations span 75% of the US, parts of Canada, Australia, and some parts of Europe. Other US-based Class, I rail carriers include Norfolk Southern (NSC), CSX Corporation (CSX), Kansas City Southern (KSU), and Union Pacific (UNP).

In this series, we’ve examined the rail traffic data of major US railroads for the sixth week of 2017, or for the week ending February 11, 2017.

Remember, the transportation and logistics sector makes up part of the industrial sector, and the ProShares Ultra S&P 500 ETF (SSO) invests ~7.6% in the industrial sector. For more information, you can compare this week’s rail data with the previous week in Market Realist’s series US Economy on the Tracks: Rail Traffic, Week Ended February 4.

For ongoing updates on major US railroad stocks, keep checking in with Market Realist’s Railroads page.