“Starting with bulk, we anticipate continued challenges in coal as natural gas futures remain volatile.”

In context

“enue for the quarter was down 12% on a 4% decrease in volume and a 9% decrease in average revenue per car from fuel surcharges in a challenging truck market. Automotive volumes were positive with continued strength in OEM production and dealer inventory replenishment for finished vehicles and auto parts. In addition, a robust business development pipeline like winning both wagon shipments from the Texas Gulf enabled us to outperform the market in the quarter. Intermodal volumes were down in the quarter, primarily driven by softness in parcel segment and weak imports on the West Coast. However, domestic truckload volume was slightly up driven by business development wins and strengthen our Mexico shipments. Turning to slide 10. Here is our outlook for the fourth quarter as we see it today. Starting with bulk, we anticipate continued challenges in coal as natural gas futures remain volatile. We are watching grain closely as we enter the export season. Crops have been harvested right now and increased supplies will be available to move. US soybean export sales have started out floor than forecasted. However, we have an improved service product this year to capture more available demand. Lastly, our forecast for renewable biofuel feedstock continues to remain strong. We see solid demand in this market and continue to capture new business. We recently landed opportunities with projects coming online soon in Iowa, Louisiana and Nevada. Moving onto Industrial. The economic forecast for industrial production looks to stay depressed in the fourth quarter. However, we expect petroleum and construction markets to remain favorable due to our focus on business development. And finally,”