Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) (NYSE:GWR) today reported traffic volumes for December 2015 and the fourth quarter of 2015.

G&W’s traffic in December 2015 was 214,781 carloads, an increase of 40,074 carloads, or 22.9%, compared with December 2014. G&W’s same-railroad traffic in December 2015 was 140,100 carloads, a decrease of 34,607 carloads, or 19.8%, compared with December 2014.

G&W’s traffic in the fourth quarter of 2015 was 712,623 carloads, an increase of 202,482 carloads, or 39.7%, compared with the fourth quarter of 2014. G&W’s same-railroad traffic in the fourth quarter of 2015 was 427,455 carloads, a decrease of 82,686, or 16.2%, compared with the fourth quarter of 2014.

The table below sets forth summary total carloads by segment for December 2015 and December 2014.

                           
Segment

December
2015

December
2014

Change

%
Change

North American Operations 126,376 155,177 (28,801) (18.6%)
Australian Operations 16,257 19,530 (3,273) (16.8%)
U.K./European Operations(1) 72,148 n/a n/a n/a
Total G&W Operations 214,781 174,707 40,074 22.9%
 
(1) Operations from the Freightliner Group acquired on March 25, 2015
 

December 2015 Highlights by Segment

  • North American Operations: Traffic in December 2015 was 126,376 carloads, a decrease of 18.6% compared with December 2014. On a same-railroad basis, traffic declined 31,334 carloads, or 20.2%. The decrease was primarily due to reduced shipments of coal & coke, metals, minerals & stone and agricultural products traffic.
  • Australian Operations: Traffic in December 2015 was 16,257 carloads, a decrease of 16.8% compared with December 2014. The decrease was primarily due to reduced metallic ores shipments from previously announced closures of customer iron ore mines and a recent suspension of rail shipments from a customer manganese mine.
  • U.K./European Operations: Traffic was 72,148 carloads in December 2015. Traffic in December 2015 was led by intermodal traffic in the U.K. and continental Europe as well as minerals & stone traffic in Poland and the U.K.

The table below sets forth North American Operations carload information for December 2015 and December 2014 by commodity group.

                           

North American Operations:

December
2015

December
2014

Change

% Change

Agricultural Products 17,510 20,102 (2,592) (12.9%)
Autos & Auto Parts 2,238 2,922 (684) (23.4%)
Chemicals & Plastics 13,947 15,305 (1,358) (8.9%)
Coal & Coke 16,677 33,305 (16,628) (49.9%)
Food & Kindred Products 5,081 5,410 (329) (6.1%)
Intermodal 6 59 (53) (89.8%)
Lumber & Forest Products 11,583 10,901 682 6.3%
Metallic Ores 2,160 2,014 146 7.2%
Metals 10,202 14,871 (4,669) (31.4%)
Minerals & Stone 14,503 16,217 (1,714) (10.6%)
Petroleum Products 9,087 9,369 (282) (3.0%)
Pulp & Paper 14,770 15,265 (495) (3.2%)
Waste 3,038 3,284 (246) (7.5%)
Other 5,574 6,153 (579) (9.4%)
Total carloads 126,376 155,177 (28,801) (18.6%)
Carloads from New Railroads(1) 2,533
Same-railroad carloads 123,843 155,177 (31,334) (20.2%)
 

(1) Total carloads from North American rail operations commenced or acquired by G&W in the last 12 months, including the Arkansas Midland Railroad, the Prescott & Northwestern Railroad and the Warren & Saline River Railroad. These railroads contributed 1,411 carloads of minerals & stone traffic, 498 carloads of lumber & forest products traffic, 228 carloads of chemicals & plastics traffic and 396 carloads from all other commodities.

The following highlights relate to North American same-railroad traffic, excluding traffic from the Arkansas Midland Railroad, the Prescott & Northwestern Railroad and the Warren & Saline River Railroad, which were acquired on January 5, 2015.

  • North American Operations traffic decreased 31,334 carloads, or 20.2%, primarily due to reduced shipments of coal & coke, metals, minerals & stone and agricultural products traffic.
  • Coal & coke traffic decreased 16,628 carloads, or 49.9%, primarily due to decreased shipments in G&W’s Midwest, Central, Ohio Valley, Northeast and Mountain West regions.
  • Metals traffic decreased 4,731 carloads, or 31.8%, primarily due to decreased shipments in G&W’s Southern, Ohio Valley and Northeast regions.
  • Minerals & stone traffic decreased 3,125 carloads, or 19.3%, primarily due to decreased shipments in G&W’s Northeast, Central and Midwest regions.
  • Agricultural products traffic decreased 2,658 carloads, or 13.2%, primarily due to decreased shipments in G&W’s Mountain West, Ohio Valley and Pacific regions.
  • All remaining traffic decreased by a net 4,192 carloads.

The table below sets forth Australian Operations carload information for December 2015 and December 2014 by commodity group.

                           

Australian Operations:

December
2015

December
2014

Change

%
Change

Agricultural Products 4,484 4,615 (131) (2.8%)
Intermodal 5,388 5,501 (113) (2.1%)
Metallic Ores 716 4,359 (3,643) (83.6%)
Minerals & Stone 5,645 5,029 616 12.2%
Petroleum Products 24 26 (2) (7.7%)
Total carloads 16,257 19,530 (3,273) (16.8%)
 

The decrease in Australian Operations traffic was primarily due to reduced metallic ores shipments from previously announced closures of customer iron ore mines and a recent suspension of rail shipments from a customer manganese mine.

The table below sets forth U.K./European Operations carload information for December 2015 by commodity group.

     
U.K./European Operations:

December
2015

Agricultural Products 157
Coal & Coke 7,084
Intermodal 54,628
Minerals & Stone 9,808
Other 471
Total carloads 72,148
 

Traffic volumes in the U.K./Europe operating segment include operations from Freightliner. G&W’s existing European operations are not reported as freight revenues and therefore are not included in this traffic report. As a result, there is no traffic information provided for the comparative period in the prior year for this segment.

Fourth Quarter of 2015 Traffic

The table below sets forth summary total carloads by segment for the fourth quarter of 2015 and the fourth quarter of 2014.

                           
Segment

Q4 2015

Q4 2014 Change

%
Change

North American Operations 388,228 455,785 (67,557) (14.8%)
Australian Operations 46,245 54,356 (8,111) (14.9%)
U.K./European Operations(1) 278,150 n/a n/a n/a
Total G&W Operations 712,623 510,141 202,482 39.7%
 
(1) Operations from the Freightliner Group acquired on March 25, 2015
 

The table below sets forth North American Operations carload information for the fourth quarter of 2015 and the fourth quarter of 2014 by commodity group.

                           

North American Operations:

Q4 2015

Q4 2014 Change

% Change

Agricultural Products 53,463 56,612 (3,149) (5.6%)
Autos & Auto Parts 6,068 9,432 (3,364) (35.7%)
Chemicals & Plastics 43,493 43,153 340 0.8%
Coal & Coke 53,004 93,047 (40,043) (43.0%)
Food & Kindred Products 15,270 15,937 (667) (4.2%)
Intermodal 29 542 (513) (94.6%)
Lumber & Forest Products 34,684 33,549 1,135 3.4%
Metallic Ores 6,042

5,619

423 7.5%
Metals 29,683 45,122 (15,439) (34.2%)
Minerals & Stone 49,724 51,231 (1,507) (2.9%)
Petroleum Products 26,605 26,249 356 1.4%
Pulp & Paper 43,206 44,447 (1,241) (2.8%)
Waste 9,957 10,076 (119) (1.2%)
Other 17,000 20,769 (3,769) (18.1%)
Total carloads 388,228 455,785 (67,557) (14.8%)
Carloads from New Railroads(1) 7,018
Same-railroad carloads 381,210 455,785 (74,575) (16.4%)
 

(1) Total carloads from North American rail operations commenced or acquired by G&W in the last 12 months, including the Arkansas Midland Railroad, the Prescott & Northwestern Railroad and the Warren & Saline River Railroad. These railroads contributed 3,373 carloads of minerals & stone traffic, 1,425 carloads of lumber & forest products traffic, 1,012 carloads of chemicals & plastics traffic and 1,208 carloads from all other commodities.

The table below sets forth Australian Operations carload information for the fourth quarter of 2015 and the fourth quarter of 2014 by commodity group.

                           
Australian Operations:

Q4 2015

Q4 2014

Change

%
Change

Agricultural Products 10,680 9,312 1,368 14.7%
Intermodal 15,608 16,575 (967) (5.8%)
Metallic Ores 3,308 14,347 (11,039) (76.9%)
Minerals & Stone 16,572 14,047 2,525 18.0%
Petroleum Products 77 75 2 2.7%
Total carloads 46,245 54,356 (8,111) (14.9%)
 

The table below sets forth U.K./European Operations carload information for the fourth quarter of 2015 by commodity group.

   
U.K./European Operations:

Q4 2015

Agricultural Products 234
Coal & Coke 17,711
Intermodal 215,644
Minerals & Stone 42,071
Other 2,490
Total carloads 278,150
 

Other

The term carload represents physical railcars and estimated railcar equivalents of commodities for which G&W is paid on a metric ton or other measure to move freight, as well as intermodal units.

Historically, G&W has found that traffic information may be indicative of freight revenues on its railroads. Freight revenues are revenues for which G&W is paid on a per car, per container or per ton basis to move freight. Activities such as railcar switching, port terminal shunting, traction services and other similar freight-related services are excluded from our traffic information as the resulting revenues are not classified as freight revenue. Traffic information may not be indicative of total operating revenues, operating expenses, income from operations or net income.

G&W’s three reportable segments are summarized as follows:

  • The North American Operations segment is comprised of nine operating regions in the U.S. and Canada. This segment represents approximately 57% of G&W’s total operating revenues and approximately 75% of G&W’s total income from operations.
  • The Australian Operations segment is comprised of G&W’s existing operations in Australia and the newly-acquired Freightliner Australia operations. This segment represents approximately 12% of G&W’s total operating revenues and approximately 14% of G&W’s total income from operations. Revenues from Freightliner’s Australia operations are not reported as freight revenues and therefore are not included in this traffic report.
  • The U.K./European Operations segment is comprised of Freightliner’s operations in the U.K. and continental Europe and G&W’s existing European port shunting operations. This segment represents approximately 31% of G&W’s total operating revenues and approximately 11% of G&W’s total income from operations. G&W’s existing European port shunting operations are not reported as freight revenues and therefore are not included in this traffic report. As a result, there is no traffic information provided for the comparative period in the prior year for this segment.

About G&W

Genesee & Wyoming owns or leases 120 freight railroads worldwide that are organized in 11 operating regions with 7,500 employees and more than 2,500 customers.

  • G&W’s nine North American regions serve 41 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces and include 113 short line and regional freight railroads with more than 13,000 track-miles.
  • G&W’s Australia Region provides rail freight services in New South Wales, the Northern Territory and South Australia and operates the 1,400-mile Tarcoola-to-Darwin rail line.
  • G&W’s U.K./Europe Region is led by Freightliner, the U.K.’s largest rail maritime intermodal operator and second-largest rail freight company. Operations also include heavy-haul in Poland and Germany and cross-border intermodal services connecting Northern European seaports with key industrial regions throughout the continent.

G&W subsidiaries provide rail service at more than 40 major ports in North America, Australia and Europe and perform contract coal loading and railcar switching for industrial customers.

For more information, visit gwrr.com.