Mark Szakonyi, Associate Editor | May 03, 2012 3:45PM EDT
U.S. intermodal rail shipments in the week ending April 28 jumped 5.5 percent year-over-year and 1.3 percent from the previous week, according to the Association of American Railroads.
Carload volume fell 4.1 percent year-over-year and was nearly flat from the week prior. Shipments of coal, grain, and waste and nonferrous scrap declined on a double-digit year-over-year basis. The declines were offset from double-digit growth in the traffic of motor vehicles and equipment, petroleum products, and crushed stone, sand and gravel.
For the first 17 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 2.8 percent from the same period a year ago, and carload volume dropped 3.2 percent in the same period.
Canadian intermodal volume in the week ending April 21 grew 9.6 percent year-over-year, and carload volume rose 1.6 percent in the same period. So far this year, Canadian intermodal volume is up 7.9 percent year-over-year, and carload traffic has increased 4.8 percent.
Mexican intermodal volume last week shot up 31.5 percent year-over-year, while carload traffic rose 0.9 percent in the same period. In the first 17 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 22.3 percentfrom the same period in 2011, and carload volume fell 4.9 percent in the same period.
Contact Mark Szakonyi at mszakonyi@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @szakonyi_joc.
