U.S. Class I railroads originated 28,074 grain carloads during the week ending June 20, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service’s Grain Transportation Report.
This represented a 3% decrease from the previous week but was 8% more than last year and 29% more than the 3-year average.
Average July shuttle secondary railcar bids and offers per car were $75 below tariff for the week ending June 25. This was $63 less than last week and $29 lower than this week last year. Average non-shuttle secondary railcar bids and offers per car were $38 above tariff, unchanged from last week and $21 more than this week last year.
Barged grain movements totaled 584,150 tons for the week ending June 27, up 9% from the previous week and 1% more than the same week last year. During this period, 396 barges moved down river, 67 fewer than the previous week. The New Orleans region unloaded 578 grain barges, 44% more than the previous week.
For the week ending June 25, 27 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf, 17% more than the same period last year. Within the next 10 days starting June 26, 40 vessels were expected to be loaded, 9% fewer than the same period last year.
Ocean freight rates declined during the reporting period. The rate for shipping a metric ton of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $69.50, down 3% from the previous week. The rate from the Pacific Northwest to Japan was $36.00 per metric ton, down 2% from the previous week.
The U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 16.4 cents from the previous week to $4.668 per gallon for the week ending June 29, though this remained 94.1 cents above the same week last year.
