In the month of June, UP left the SPRB with 881 loaded trains, a daily average of 29.4. In May, the average was 28.6 – both well below the average for June 2008, when it shipped 975 trains in total.

The rail transporter loaded 214 trains in the Colorado-Utah region last month, a jump up from 193 for May. However, its 2008 May and June counts were 324 and 321 respectively.

“In June there were 134 missed SPRB loading opportunities, 33 of which were attributable to the mines, 84 to utility plants and 17 to UP,” the coal hauler said.

“These missed loading opportunities were partially offset with 58 extra loadings. Several utility plants have been experiencing higher than usual occurrences of breakdowns and slow unloading situations, which has delayed the return of empty trains for loading.”

UP noted that loadings, especially those from the Colorado-Utah area, continued on a downward trend due to production issues at mines along with a reduced demand from plants.

UP also posted its numbers for last week, between June 29 and July 5. Even with the US holiday, a total of 216 loaded trains left the PRB region, and 54 left the Colorado-Utah region.