Weekly Rail Intermodal Volume Rises 17%
Weekly U.S. intermodal rail traffic rose 17% from the same period last year, the Association of American Railroads reported.
Intermodal traffic for the week ended Sept. 5 increased to 279,867 compared with the same week last year, AAR said Sept. 9 in its weekly report. The increase follows a 4% rise the prior week that was the highest level this year.
Rail carload volume for the week, which excludes intermodal units, dropped 0.4% year-over-year to 287,339 carloads.
Seven of the 10 commodity groups AAR tracks increased for the week from the same time last year, including motor vehicles and parts at 19.5% and grain at 9.6%. For the week, metallic ores and metals declined 17.3% to 21,145 units.
Total North American intermodal volume dropped 15.7% to 355,297 units for the week. Canadian railroads moved 64,015 intermodal units, a 14.7% increase. Railroads in Mexico moved 11,415 intermodal containers, a 5.2% decline, according to AAR.
For the first 35 weeks of the year, U.S. intermodal traffic increased 2.6% to 9.3 million units from the same period in 2014.
