CSX Corp.’s fourth-quarter earnings were impacted by two major hurricanes that hit the Southeastern U.S.
As the Jacksonville-based railroad company reported its results for the quarter, it was dealing with a more unusual weather-related disruption: snow in its Gulf Coast operations.
The snowstorm affected CSX’s operations in several cities, including New Orleans and Waycross, Georgia, CEO Joe Hinrichs said in a Jan. 24 interview.
“It definitely has an impact. We weren’t able to get employees into the yard,” he said.
“No traffic moved for a few days.”
“We’re starting to thaw and get back up and running,” Hinrichs said. He expects operations returning to normal over the weekend.
CSX reported fourth-quarter revenue fell 4% to $3.54 billion and adjusted earnings fell by 3 cents a share to 42 cents.
Hinrichs said hurricanes had about a $50 million impact on the company’s results, with $30 million in lost revenue and $20 million in expenses for repairs, particularly in eastern Tennessee.
“We lost one of our four main north-south arteries” in Tennessee, he said, and the disruption is continuing into this year as repairs continue.
CSX’s fourth-quarter revenue also was affected by lower prices for export coal and lower fuel surcharges passed on to customers.
CSX’s total 2024 revenue declined by 1% to $14.54 billion because of pricing issues but the volume of freight transported rose by 2%.
The company is doing well with “the core business of growing volume and getting more efficient,” Hinrichs said.
“We’re just having to deal with multiple issues we don’t control.”
Economy growing
Hinrichs said the U.S. economy has been growing with gains in the service sector but industrial production has been flat.
“We tend to be more associated with the industrial economy because we’re moving big things,” he said.
However, CSX officials have been expressing optimism about industrial growth in the Southeast.
“Where is the new industrial work going? A majority of them (industrial projects) are going on our network,” Hinrichs said, which bodes well for the future.
“That takes time and many years to materialize,” he said. “We’re starting to see that this year and we’ll see more next year.”
Hinrichs said he is optimistic about President Trump’s impact on the railroad industry.
“The railroad industry is excited about the regulatory environment we believe we will have under the new administration,” he said.
Contract negotiations
CSX last year reached labor agreements with a number of unions to replace contracts that expired at the end of 2024. Hinrichs said the company still is negotiating new contracts with three unions covering about half of its union workforce.
“It may take a little longer,” Hinrichs said. But he said the environment for labor negotiations is much better than it was in previous years.
“We feel good not only about the progress we’ve made but also the process and the relationships,” he said.
CSX’s earnings report came after the market closed Jan. 23 and its stock opened $1.59 lower Jan. 24 at $32.08.
The results were slightly lower than the average estimate of $3.58 billion in revenue and 43 cents in earnings by analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.