Mark Szakonyi, Associate Editor | May 17, 2012 2:03PM EDT
U.S. intermodal rail shipments in the week ending May 12 rose 3 percent year-over-year and was nearly flat from the previous week, according to the Association of American Railroads.
Carload volume fell 5.2 percent year-over-year and was down 1 percent from the week before. Shipments of grain, coal and non-metallic minerals fell on a double-digit basis from the same period a year ago.
For the first 19 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 2.8 percent from the same period a year ago; carload traffic declined 3.3 percent in the same period.
Canadian intermodal volume in the week ending May 12 expanded 7.2 percent year-over-year, and carload volume rose 3.4 percent in the same period. So far this year, Canadian intermodal volume is up 7.9 percent year-over-year, and carload traffic rose 4.7 percent.
Mexican intermodal volume last week jumped 16.2 percent year-over-year, and carload traffic rose 6.2 percent in the same period. In the first 19 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 22.1 percent from the same period in 2011, but carload volume fell 4.1 percent in the same period.
Contact Mark Szakonyi at mszakonyi@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @szakonyi_joc.