Rail Shipments Reach Four-Month High

Rail traffic strengthened again for large U.S. railroads in the week ending July 25, sending bulk carloads to their highest level in four months along with the strongest intermodal box hauls since late January.

And in what could be a sign that industrial demand is finally firming, trainloads of scrap materials – which is mainly metal headed for recycling to blend with pricier ore to make new goods – set a 2009 high for the second straight week, according to data the carriers file with the Association of American Railroads.

Carloads include bulk cargoes like coal or grain or chemicals along with heavy or bulky items from metal products to finished vehicles. That traffic segment hit 273,943 units, the strongest since March 21, even though it was still down 17.4 percent from the same point last year. Coal loadings also were the highest since that March week.

And train hauls of intermodal trailers or containers reached 193,332 boxes, the most since Jan. 24. Because this is normally a time in the year when intermodal is surging toward a seasonal peak due to imported containers full of goods coming in for late-year sales, the segment was off 17.9 percent from the same week last year.

Scrap at 8,277 units is up about 1,200 loads from July 11. In line with its indication of new demand percolating from factories, train hauls of 7,147 loads of semi-finished metals and products were the most since Feb. 28.

The July 25 traffic counts support the idea that mid-July is seeing volume for several key cargoes turn more solid, perhaps finally moving away from the up-and-down pattern that has persisted for months for rail cargoes. However, the gains have been taking hold for only a few weeks. June and early July were softer.

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.