GLG News by Railcar Market Experts (EU)

    The year-to-date and outlook for many of the items transported by the U.S. railroads are down, coal transportation has been positive.  The discussions that follows list some of the positives for the railroads.

    Coal companies have issued force majeure declarations to customers due to various production-related issues.  These are discussed in the section below.

    As the referenced article states, there are many benefits in the Emergency Stabilization Act for the coal industry.  One not discussed is the refund of the coal excise tax.  The commentary section discusses this.

The stock prices of all railcar builders declined after a recent prediction by a KeyBank analyst that railcar deliveries will fall in 2009. He estimated that deliveries in 2009 would fall to around 37,000 cars from the 45,000 to 50,000 cars expected this year. It is hard to argue with this forecast...

    The Emergency Stabilization Act signed into law on October 3, 2008 includes an extension of tax credits for renewable energy and refined coal.  The discussion that follows includes items to consider regarding the refined coal tax credit.

In every story about railroad traffic and railroad profits in this, and indeed in all of the last few years, commentators have used revenue growth as a surrogate for traffic increases, neglecting to inform the reader that traffic levels have been uncharacteristically stagnant in the recent  economic...

    The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on February 8, 2009 in favor of the plaintiffs that coal plants could not be removed from the list of mercury sources subject to a Maximum Available Control Technology (MACT) standard and the subsequent movements to require EPA to set a...

    The commentary section discusses the current market and outlook for coal railcars

    The fuel-switching from coal to natural gas affects the demand and price for each commodity.  The commentary below discusses what issues are part of the analysis of a utility or merchant fuel buyer on whether to switch fuel sources to fuel power plants.

    Although the year-to-date and outlook for many of the items transported by the U.S. railroads are down, coal transportation has been positive.  The commentary section below discusses the positives of coal transportation for the railroads.