Intermodal Ticked Up Last Week

Rail traffic took another step toward recovery last week when intermodal traffic rose above 2019 levels for the same period of 2019.

The Association of American Railroads said that for the week ending Aug. 8 intermodal volume was 277,054 containers and trailers, an increase of 1.9 percent compared with 2019.

However, total rail traffic was 497,397 carloads and intermodal units, down 6.7 percent compared with the same week of 2019.

Total carloads for the week were 220,343 carloads, down 15.6 compared compared with the same week in 2019.

One of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2019.

Grain was up 773 carloads, to 22,081. Coal was down 18,113 carloads, to 59,328; nonmetallic minerals, was down 11,269 carloads, to 30,706; and metallic ores and metals were down 6,591 carloads, to 15,754.

For the first 32 weeks of 2020, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 6,770,373 carloads, down 16.2 percent from the same point last year; and 7,764,577 intermodal units, down 8.8 percent from last year.

Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 32 weeks of 2020 was 14,534,950 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 12.4 percent compared to last year.

Tags: AAR freight statistics, Association of American Railroads, freight volumes, railroad freight volume, U.S. freight traffic, U.S. freight volume, U.S. Rail Freight Traffic, U.S. railroad freight traffic