Mark Szakonyi, Associate Editor | Aug 10, 2012 9:14AM EDT
Intermodal shipments on major U.S. railroads in the week ending Aug. 4 rose 3.3 percent year-over-year but slipped 2.8 percent from prior week, according to the Association of American Railroads.
Carload traffic inched up 0.4 percent and was flat from the previous week. Double-digit growth in shipments of petroleum products, lumber and wood products, and motor vehicles and equipment helped offset a 19.7 percent drop in shipments of iron and steel scrap.
For the first 31 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 3.6 percent; carload traffic fell 2.5 percent in the same period.
Canadian intermodal volume in the week ending Aug 4 rose 12.7 percent year-over-year, and carload volume rose 6.8 percent in the same period. So far this year, Canadian intermodal volume is up 7.3 percent year-over-year, and carload traffic is up 3.3 percent.
Mexican intermodal volume last week jumped 18.4 percent year-over-year, and carload traffic rose 9.5 percent in the same period. In the first 31 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 18 percent from the same period in 2011, but carload volume fell 0.9 percent.
Contact Mark Szakonyi at mszakonyi@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @szakonyi_joc.
