PALM BEACH, Fla. — CSX expects to take a $40 million hit in the fourth quarter due to lower than expected coal and automotive shipments.
An Oct. 25 coal train derailment in Providence Forge, Va., and subsequent cleanup shut the railroad’s route to its Newport News, Va., export terminal for 12 days. [See “CSX coal train derails in Virginia,” Trains.com, Oct. 25, 2025.]
Chief Financial Officer Kevin Boone told an investor conference on Tuesday that the railroad ultimately will make up the lost coal revenue but that it won’t get caught up until early next year. The impact will be $30 million in earnings before interest and taxes in the fourth quarter, Boone says. The railroad’s coal volume is up nearly 1% for the quarter.
Auto shipments, meanwhile, have slumped 7.8% for the quarter to date on CSX, partly due to a pair of fires in October and November that halted production at the Novelis aluminum processing plant near Oswego, N.Y.
The plant supplies aluminum for Ford F-150 pickups as well as vehicles made by other manufacturers. Ford has said the aluminum shortage will cost it $2 billion. Some computer chips used in new vehicles also have been in short supply, which has crimped production of some models.
The combined toll on CSX, whose auto volumes have been disproportionately affected, is $10 million in earnings before interest and taxes in the quarter, Boone says.
On the plus side, CSX’s intermodal volume remains strong thanks in part to its new partnerships with BNSF Railway, Canadian National, and CPKC, Boone says. “All these things are adding up to a lot of opportunities to grow that business,” he says. “And so we’re excited about the momentum we’re carrying into the next year.” [See “BNSF and CSX expand intermodal partnership…,” Trains.com, Nov. 17, 2025.]
CSX’s domestic intermodal volume is robust amid the holiday peak season, while international intermodal volume is slowing, Boone says. CSX’s overall intermodal volume is up 6.1% for the quarter to date.
Weak chemical and forest products volume, along with weak ag and food exports, have led to a 1.3% quarter to date decline in overall merchandise volume.
Overall, CSX’s volume is up 2.2% thus far in the fourth quarter.
Boone spoke at the UBS Global Industrials and Transportation Conference.
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I thought the new OR boss was supposed to prevent all this from happening.