Curtis Tate Published

CSX Presentation: Domestic Coal Up, Exports Down

Empty rail cars sit on a track on the left as blue and yellow locomotives move past on the right under an overcast sky.
CSX empty coal hoppers and locomotives in Grafton, West Virginia, in October 2022.
Curtis Tate / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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CSX hauled more domestic coal in the third quarter, but its export coal business is in a slump.

CSX is the dominant rail carrier in West Virginia, with much of its business centered on coal.

In a third quarter results presentation Thursday, the railroad recorded an 8% growth in domestic coal shipments in the three months ending Sept. 30, reflecting higher demand from power plants.

By contrast, CSX saw its coal exports plummet 11% on weak demand for metallurgical coal to make steel. CSX hauls export coal from northern and southern West Virginia to ports at Baltimore and Newport News, Virginia.

For the first nine months of the year, the railroad shipped 60 million tons of coal, just about evenly split between domestic and export.

Last year, the railroad and its principal rival, Norfolk Southern, shipped more coal overseas than domestically. Current trends may flip that around by the end of this year.