OMAHA, Neb. — BNSF Railway’s pre-tax earnings declined 1.9% in 2022 due to a combination of lower volume and higher costs, the railroad’s parent company, Berkshire Hathaway, reported on Saturday.
BNSF’s revenue was up 11.9% for the year, to $25.2 billion, reflecting an 18.9% increase in average revenue per car/unit, including the impact from higher fuel surcharge revenue driven by higher fuel prices, partially offset by a 5.8% decline in volume. Net income declined 0.7%.
Expenses increased 21.2% for the year, pushing the operating ratio up 5 points to 65.9%. Expenses rose primarily due to higher fuel and labor costs.
Consumer-products revenue — which includes intermodal and automotive traffic — increased 11.8% despite an 8.3% decline in volume. “The volume decrease was primarily due to lower intermodal shipments, resulting from supply chain disruptions and lower West Coast imports during the second half of the year,” Berkshire said.
Industrial products revenue increased 5.6% for the year as higher revenue per unit more than offset a 5.3% decline in traffic. “The volume decrease was primarily due to a decrease in petroleum products related to lower demand for shipments of crude by rail and lower building products, steel and taconite shipments, partially offset by increased mineral shipments,” Berkshire reported.
Agricultural products revenue increased 12.6%, reflecting higher revenue per car/unit. Volume declined 2%. “The decrease in volumes was primarily due to lower grain exports and fertilizer shipments, partially offset by higher volumes of domestic grains, renewable diesel and feedstocks,” Berkshire said.
Coal revenue increased 21.7% despite flat volumes.
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