GLG News by Railcar Market Experts (EU)

    Coal lease rates in the PRB are climbing and will cut in coal companies’ margins as exhibited by Foundations recent successful lease bid and Rio Tinto’s higher, but unsuccessful bid.  Also, the upfront payments are due often before the coal is even mined.

CSX was the underperformer of the four major U.S. Class One railroads for many years. About a year ago, the company’s weak performance started to attract attention from activist investors who felt that the company had the potential for significant improvement in its operating performance and financial...

    Railroads impose fuel surcharges in transportation agreements such as for coal transport, but the recovery mechanism timing follows the railroads’ purchase of the fuel causing an earnings lag.     Also, legacy coal transportation agreements do not have fuel...

    New Jersey vs. EPA was filed by several states and environmentalists against the EPA’s removal of power plants from the list of mercury sources subject to a Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standard and that mercury cannot be regulated by a cap and trade system under...

    The Citigroup reports states U.S. coal supply is ample and coal plant inventory levels are adequate such that the higher coal prices of the last several weeks will not hold.  The discussion in the commentary section addresses U.S. coal supply and coal plant inventory and...

It’s hard to argue with success, and success is what the railroads are currently achieving after a decades -long battle for survival with their highway and barge competition. While all modes of transportation saw freight traffic soften in recent quarters, only the railroad companies have been able to...

The growth rate of the ethanol industry has slowed significantly in recent months as the price of corn pinched the profit margins of most firms and put some inefficient producers out of business.  With corn prices at $5.55/bu., reformulated gasoline (ethanol) prices must be above $2.00/gal just...

The two largest railroad carload traffic segments, Agricultural products and Coal, are once again flowing in record quantities after a disappointing performance in 2007. Grain traffic is up 17% for the first 8 weeks of the year and coal shipments are up 3.4% for the year following increases last week...

London-based hedge fund TCI, which owns roughly 4% of CSX Corporation’s common stock, has been sparring with the company’s management for the past year. TCI has said that CSX executives have been ineffective in fixing the railroad’s longstanding operating problems, and have questioned the company’s...

Kansas City Southern is the smallest of the “big seven” North American railroads, but it has by far the largest stake in U.S.-Mexico trade thanks to its ownership of the former TFM rail line, now known as Kansas City Southern de México. Over the past decade, KCS has made progress in integrating its...