KANSAS CITY — While total US rail carloads were lower year-over-year in the week ended Jan. 23, grain was one of five carload commodity groups to record an increase compared with the same week in 2020, according to the American Association of Railroads.

Rail cars of grain transported in the United States last week totaled 27,295, a 25% increase from the same week in 2020. That brought cumulative 2021 grain carloads to 82,558, a 39% increase compared with the same period in 2020. The average grain carloads per week in the first three weeks of 2021 was 27,519.

US grain carloads in the week ended Jan. 23 were 12% of total carloads, which were 230,979, down 0.7% from the same week a year ago. Cumulative 2021 grain carloads were 12% of the cumulative 2021 total rail carloads, which were 698,933, down 1% from the same period in 2020.

Four other carload commodity groups shipped more cars last week compared with the same week a year earlier: chemicals, farm products and food excluding grain, forest products, and other.

Total intermodal units last week were 298,051, up 18% from the same week a year earlier, bringing 2021 cumulative intermodal units to 883,897, a 14% increase from the same period in 2020.

In the secondary rail market for the week ended Jan. 21, the average shuttle car bids/offers were $388 per car above tariff, down $250, or 39% from the previous week, but $296, or 422%, higher compared with the same week in 2020.

Barge activity

Barge grain movements in the week ended Jan. 23 totaled 1,108,428 tons, up 21% from the previous week, and up 93% from the same week a year earlier, the USDA said in its weekly grain transportation report.

Grain barges moving down river in the week ended Jan. 23 totaled 681, up 118 barges, or 21%, from the previous week. Grain barges unloaded in New Orleans totaled 977, up 1% from the previous week, according to the US Army Corps of Engineers and the USDA.

Ocean freight

In the week ended Jan. 21, oceangoing grain vessel loadings at the Gulf of Mexico totaled 47, up 57% compared with the same week a year earlier, the USDA said.

Grain shipping rates to Japan were unchanged to higher. From the Gulf, the rate to ship 1 tonne of grain to Japan was $46.25, up 1% from the previous week. From Pacific Northwest ports, the price was $26.50 per tonne, unchanged from the previous week.

Trucking

The average price of a gallon of diesel fuel in the week ended Jan. 25 was $2.716, up 2¢ from the previous week, down 29.4¢ from the same week a year earlier, according to the US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration.

The highest regional average was California at $3.477 per gallon of diesel, up 2.9¢ from the prior week, down 38¢ from the same week a year earlier.

The lowest regional average was the Gulf Coast at $2.483 per gallon of diesel, up 2.2¢ from the previous week, down 29¢ from the same week in 2020.