In the year ahead, we see growth opportunities across most commodity groups and new business opportunities on our network as the economic outlook indicates moderate growth in both the U.S. and Mexico.
In order to capitalize on these opportunities, we will focus on working with our partners and others in the supply chain to design and provide service that is focused on the end-consumers’ needs; continuing our improvement in operational metrics; and investing strategically in our franchise.
We anticipate that intermodal business will return to growth as the port of Lazaro Cardenas will expand capacity in mid-2016 along with the reacceleration of converting cross-border truck traffic to rail.
The outlook for our chemical and petroleum commodity group is positive, and we expect growth in crude oil as Canadian heavy crude continues to move into the Gulf region.
The commodity markets continue to be volatile, which could negatively impact metals and energy markets.
Also, a few automotive plants in Mexico will be temporarily shut down for expansion and retooling in early 2016; this will have a short-term negative impact during the first half of the year, but is expected to drive automotive volume growth in 2017.
As we look ahead, we will continue to expand our network capacity in the U.S. and Mexico to efficiently handle the business growth we project for the rest of this decade.