U.S. Class I railroads originated 30,403 grain carloads during the week ending March 14 according to the weekly Grain Transportation Report from the Agricultural Marketing Service. This was unchanged from the previous week, 18% more than last year and 25% more than the three-year average.
Average March shuttle secondary railcar bids and offers per car were $500 above tariff for the week ending March 19. This was $100 more than last week and $94 lower than this week last year. Average non-shuttle secondary railcar bids and offers per car were $50 above tariff, $25 more than last week and $450 lower than this week last year.
Barged grain movements totaled 621,300 tons for the week ending March 21. This was 30% more than the previous week and 7% less than the same week last year. For the week, 387 barges moved down river, 76 more than the previous week.
For the week ending March 19, 40 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf, 54% more than the same period last year. Within the next 10 days starting March 20, 36 vessels were expected to be loaded, 12% fewer than the same period last year.
As of March 19, the rate for shipping a metric ton of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $62.25, up 3% from the previous week. The rate from the Pacific Northwest to Japan was $34.25 per metric ton, up 1% from the previous week.
