This data shows the weekly cost indices of transporting grain by each mode: truck, rail, barge, and ocean-going vessels. The base of each index (set to 100) is the average of monthly costs in the year 2000. For truck, the base rate is $1.49 per gallon. For unit train, the base rate is $1,815.15 per railcar, including the tariff and fuel surcharges (weekly changes reflect the month tariff rate plus fuel surcharge, and weekly secondary railcar market bids). For shuttle train, the base rate is $2,338.28 per railcar, including the tariff and fuel surcharges (weekly changes reflect the month tariff rate plus fuel surcharge, and weekly secondary railcar market bids). For barge, the base rate is 180 and is based on Illinois River barge rates (see Downbound Grain Barge Rates dataset for more information). For the Gulf-to-Japan ocean route, the base rate is $22.36/metric ton. For the Pacific Northwest-to-Japan ocean route, the base rate is $14.10/metric ton.
This dataset has the following 10 columns:
| Column Name | API Column Name | Data Type | Description | Sample Values |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | date | calendar_date | Data collected weekly | 2021-12-15T00:00:00.000 2007-12-12T00:00:00.000 2005-04-06T00:00:00.000 2018-02-07T00:00:00.000 2014-10-22T00:00:00.000 view top 100 |
| Week | week | number | Week number calculated from the reported week ending date (Date field). Week 1 is the first week of the year with a week ending date falling on or after January 4. In other words, it is the first reported week of data which includes four days in the new year. Values range from 1 to 52 or 53, depending on the year. | 44 20 19 9 13 view top 100 |
| Month | month | number | Month number calculated from the reported week ending date (Date field). Week ending dates falling before the fourth day of the month are assigned to the previous month. For example, a week ending date falling on February 1st, 2nd, or 3rd would correspond to “1” (January), since there are less than four days in the reported week that fall in February. Values range from 1 through 12, where 1 refers to January, 2 to February, etc. | 1 10 3 5 12 view top 100 |
| Year | year | number | Year number calculated from the reported week ending date (Date field). Week ending dates falling on or after January 4 correspond to the calendar year of the reported week. Week ending dates falling on or before January 3 correspond to the previous calendar year. For example, a week ending date falling on January 2, 2018 would be “2017.” Values range from 2002 to the present. | 2023 2017 2012 2006 2016 view top 100 |
| Truck | truck | number | U.S. average on highway diesel fuel prices | 206 261 163 262 258 view top 100 |
| Unit_Train | unit_train | number | Near month secondary rail market bid and monthly tariff rate with fuel surcharge ($/car) | 283.21 272.93 282.92 272.11 282.94 view top 100 |
| Shuttle_Train | shuttle_train | number | Near month secondary rail market bid and monthly tariff rate with fuel surcharge ($/car) | 103.52 109.65 104.87 124.45 100.83 view top 100 |
| Barge | barge | number | Illinois barge rates (index= percent of tariff rate) | 222.22 277.78 148.89 250 152.78 view top 100 |
| Gulf_Vessel | gulf_vessel | number | Ocean freight rate from the U.S. Gulf to Japan ($/metric ton) | 205.72 254.92 219.14 196.78 207.96 view top 100 |
| Pacific_Vessel | pacific_vessel | number | Ocean freight rate from the Pacific Northwest to Japan ($/metric ton) | 170.21 205.67 191.49 177.3 173.76 view top 100 |