Mark Szakonyi, Associate Editor | Aug 30, 2012 4:27PM EDT
Intermodal shipments on major U.S. railroads in the week ending Aug. 25 rose 0.8 percent year-over-year but were flat from the prior week, according to the Association of American Railroads.
Carload traffic slipped 0.8 percent, but rose 1 percent from the prior week. Double-digit volume increases in farm products, lumber and wood products, and petroleum products helped offset a 17.5 percent drop in metallic ores traffic.
Coal traffic rose 6.7 percent year-over-year, while grain shipments grew 5 percent in the same period. U.S intermodal volume is up 3.6 percent in the first 34 weeks of the year; carload traffic fell 2.4 percent in the same period.
Canadian intermodal volume in the week ending Aug. 25 rose 3.2 percent year-over-year, and carload volume increased 3.9 percent in the same period. So far this year, Canadian intermodal volume is up 7 percent year-over-year, and carload traffic is up 2.9 percent.
Mexican intermodal volume last week jumped 32.6 percent year-over-year, but carload traffic rose slipped 0.1 percent in the same period. In the first 34 weeks of 2012, intermodal traffic rose 18.8 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.