Mark Szakonyi, Associate Editor | Apr 16, 2012 11:40AM EDT
U.S. intermodal rail shipments in the week ending April 7 rose 1.1 percent year-over-year and fell. 4.7 percent from the previous week, according to the Association of American Railroads.
Carload traffic declined 7.7 percent year-over-year and 5.6 percent from the week before. Coal volume fell 18.2 percent year-over-year, and grain traffic dropped 8.7 percent in the same period.
Double-digit volume increases in motor vehicles and equipment, iron and steel scrap, petroleum products and metals helped offset the declines. For the first 14 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 2.4 percent from the same period a year ago, and carload volume dropped 2.9 percent in the same period.
Canadian intermodal volume in the week ending April 7 grew 1.6 percent year-over-year, and carload volume fell 3.4 in the same period. So far this year, Canadian intermodal volume is up 6.5 percent year-over-year, and carload traffic has increased 4.7 percent.
Mexican intermodal volume last week rose 1.3 percent year-over-year, while carload traffic fell 16 percent in the same period. In the first 14 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 21.2 percent from the same period in 2011, and carload volume dropped 6.5 percent in the same period.
Contact Mark Szakonyi at mszakonyi@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @szakonyi_joc.
