Coal carload volumes originated on US railroads reached to an 11-week high, according to data released Wednesday by the Association of American Railroads. For the week ending July 18, the AAR reported 99,975 coal carloads, up 4.9% from 95,318 carloads the previous week. It was the second straight week of coal shipment gains since a year-low 82,924 carloads were reported for the week ending July 4. It was the highest volume of coal carloads since 101,495 carloads for the week ending May 2. Despite the increase, the latest total marked the 15th week this year coal volumes were below 100,000 carloads. It is the most times in a year weekly volumes have remained that low since the AAR began such record keeping in 1988, more than doubling the previous high of seven weeks in 1989. Article continues below… Platts Coal Trader provides the latest prices for key benchmark coals, […]