Union Pacific profit up 18%

   Union Pacific reported it had a profit of $3.29 billion in 2011, 18 percent more than the $2.78 billion earned in 2010, despite weaker intermodal and agricultural volumes.
   Operating revenue for the railroad amounted to $19.6 million in 2011, 15 percent more than the $17 billion recorded in 2010.
   Fourth quarter profit for 2011 was $964 million, a 24 percent increase over the same period in 2010, and revenue in the fourth quarter of 2011 was $5.1 billion, a 16 percent increase over the same quarter the previous year.
   UP said each of its six business groups reported freight revenue growth in the fourth quarter driven by increased fuel cost recoveries and core pricing gains. Volume growth was also a contributing factor in four of the six business groups – chemical, automotive, energy and industrial products, but both agricultural and intermodal volumes were down. Overall volumes were 2,295,000 revenue carloads in the fourth quarter of 2011, 3 percent more than in the same 2010 period.
   But in the fourth quarter, the company said it moved 817,000 intermodal containers and trailers, 3 percent fewer than the 841,000 moved in the fourth quarter of 2010.
   Average revenue per intermodal container or trailer was $1,175 in the fourth quarter, 16 percent more than the $1,012 in the fourth quarter of 2010. As a result intermodal revenue was $959 million in the fourth quarter, 13 percent more than in the $852 million in the same period the year prior.