Carloads down, intermodal up in latest week
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
U.S. intermodal freight rail traffic for the week ended July 10 gained over the comparable week in 2009, up 9.1%, the Association of American Railroads reported Thursday. Intermodal volume for the week still trailed its 2008 level, down 16.8%. More worrisome for some observers was the decline in carload freight traffic for the week, down 3.5% compared with 2009 and down 20.8% from 2008 levels. However, the 2010 figures include the July 4 Independence Day holiday, which “did not affect comparison weeks in 2008 or 2009,” AAR noted.
(AAR earlier this week reported U.S. carload freight for the month of June fell 1.3% from May levels, the second monthly decline, though June carload freight traffic was up 10.6% compared with June 2009. That prompted one web commentator, critical of AAR’s presentation of the data though not the data itself, to suggest AAR was “part of a ‘hope bandwagon.’” )
Six of the 19 carload commodity groups increased during the week ended July 10, while all 19 groups trailed the 2008 numbers.
Canadian carload volume for the week was up 18.5% from last year, while intermodal rose 24.3% from the comparable 2009 week. Mexico’s two major railroads saw carload volume decline 1.9%, while intermodal also fell, down 2.8%.
Combined North American rail volume for the first 27 weeks of 2010 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads saw carload volume up 10.4% from last year, while intermodal gained 13.5%.
