Mark Szakonyi, Associate Editor | Aug 16, 2012 2:25PM EDT
Intermodal shipments on major U.S. railroads in the week ending Aug. 11 rose 3.2 percent year-over-year but were flat from the prior week, according to the Association of American Railroads.
Carload traffic slipped 1.2 percent and was nearly flat from prior week. Double-digit declines in the shipments of metallic ores, and iron and steel scrap offset a 19.8 percent jump in lumber and wood products. Coal traffic fell 5.7 percent in the same period, while grain volume inched up 1 percent.
For the first 32 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 3.6 percent; carload traffic fell 2.4 percent in the same period.
Canadian intermodal volume in the week ending Aug. 11 rose 4.5 percent year-over-year, and carload volume fell 5.7 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 10.4 percent year-over-year, and carload traffic dropped 0.5 percent in the same period. In the first 32 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 17.7 percent from the same period in 2011, but carload volume was down 0.9 percent.
Contact Mark Szakonyi at mszakonyi@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @szakonyi_joc.
