Mark Szakonyi, Associate Editor | May 31, 2012 4:11PM EDT
U.S. intermodal shipments on major railroads in the week ending May 26 rose 4.3 percent year-over-year and 1.2 percent from the week before, according to the Association of American Railroads.
Carload volume rose 1.3 percent year-over-year and 3.9 from the prior week. Grain shipments fell 10 percent and coal volume dropped 6.3 percent from the same period a year ago, but the year-over-year declines were less severe than in previous weeks.
Shipments of petroleum products and of motor vehicles and equipment continued to show double-digit year-over-year growth.
For the first 21 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 2.9 percent from the same period a year ago; carload traffic declined 3.1 percent in the same period.
Canadian intermodal volume in the week ending May 26 fell 11.5 percent year-over-year, and carload volume plunged 10.8 percent in the same period, as a strike crippled the Canadian network of Canadian Pacific Railway. So far this year, Canadian intermodal volume is up 7 percent year-over-year, and carload traffic is up 4.1 percent.
Mexican intermodal volume last week rose 9.8 percent year-over-year, and carload traffic was up 4 percent in the same period. In the first 21 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 20.9 percent from the same period in 2011, but carload volume fell 3.7 percent in the same period.
Contact Mark Szakonyi at mszakonyi@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @szakonyi_joc.
