The U.S. grain transportation sector saw varied activity in early May, with rail carloads and barge movements decreasing week-over-week but showing year-over-year strength, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) May 15 Grain Transportation Report. Unshipped export balances for key grains remain significantly above last year's levels, and corn export sales saw a notable weekly increase.
Key transportation and export highlights include:
Rail: U.S. Class I railroads originated 26,068 grain carloads during the week ending May 3. This was an 11 percent decrease from the previous week, but 5 percent more than last year and 6 percent above the 3-year average.
- For the week ending May 8, average May shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers were $109 below tariff, an increase of $46 from the prior week but $159 lower than the same week last year.
- Average non-shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers were $275 above tariff, up $194 from last week but $125 lower than the same week last year.
Barge: For the week ending May 10, barged grain movements totaled 739,150 tons. This marked a 5 percent decrease from the previous week but a substantial 51 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
- During the same week, 475 grain barges moved down river, 28 fewer than the previous week.
- The New Orleans region saw 483 grain barges unloaded, a 7 percent increase from the prior week.
Ocean: In the week ending May 8, 22 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf, 19 percent fewer than the same period last year. However, 32 vessels were expected to be loaded in the 10 days starting May 9, which is 10 percent more than the same period in 2024.
- Ocean freight rates remained steady, with the cost to ship a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan at $46.25 and from the Pacific Northwest to Japan at $27.25, both unchanged from the previous week as of May 8.
Fuel: The U.S. average diesel price decreased by 2.1 cents to $3.476 per gallon for the week ending May 12. This price is 37.2 cents lower than the same week last year.
Export Sales: For the week ending May 1, unshipped balances of corn, soybeans, and wheat for the 2024/25 marketing year totaled 23.42 million metric tons (mmt). This was down 2 percent from the previous week but up 26 percent from the same time last year.
- Net corn export sales for marketing year 2024/25 were 1.66 mmt, a 64 percent increase from the prior week.
- Net soybean export sales were 0.38 mmt, down 12 percent from last week.
- Net wheat export sales for marketing year 2024/25 totaled 0.07 mmt, a 3 percent decrease from the previous week.
