Mark Szakonyi, Associate Editor | Aug 23, 2012 3:49PM EDT
Intermodal shipments on major U.S. railroads in the week ending Aug. 18 rose 3.6 percent year-over-year and 1.7 percent from the prior week, according to the Association of American Railroads.
Carload traffic slipped 2.1 percent but rose 1.6 percent from the prior week. Farm products; crushed stone, sand and gravel; lumber and wood products; petroleum products; motor vehicles and equipment; and miscellaneous cargo tracked double-digit growth compared to a year ago. These volume jumps helped to offset a 29 percent drop in metallic ore volume and a 25.6 plunge in waste and nonferrous scrap traffic.
Coal traffic was down 8.5 percent year-over-year, but grain volume ticked up 1.8 percent.
Canadian intermodal volume in the week ending Aug. 18 rose 4 percent year-over-year, and carload volume fell 1.4 percent in the same period. So far this year, Canadian intermodal volume is up 7.1 percent year-over-year, and carload traffic is up 2.9 percent.
Mexican intermodal volume last week jumped 34.1 percent year-over-year, and carload traffic rose 10.7 percent in the same period. In the first 34 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 18.3 percent from the same period in 2011, but carload volume was down 0.6 percent.
Contact Mark Szakonyi at mszakonyi@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @szakonyi_joc.