Intermodal Rail Traffic Declines in October
U.S. rail intermodal traffic declined 1.4% in October compared with the same month the prior year, the Association of American Railroads reported.
Railroads moved 1.1 million intermodal trailers and containers, 15,769 fewer units than the same month last year, AAR said Nov. 4.
“The decline in rail traffic in October is consistent with the view that a divide has opened up between the service sector, which appears to be fairly robust in many respects, and manufacturing, which appears to be facing increasingly strong headwinds, including international turmoil and slowdowns in the energy sector,” John Gray, AAR senior vice president of policy and economics, said in a statement.
Rail carload volume, which excludes intermodal units, declined 5.9%, or 83,578 units, in September year-over-year to 1.1 million carloads.
Five of the 20 commodity groups AAR tracks monthly increased over last year, led by grain at 12.9%.
Intermodal traffic for the week ended Oct. 31 declined 3.4% to 270,380 units, according to AAR.
Rail carload volume, which excludes intermodal units, declined 8.5% year-over-year to 279,327 carloads.
Four of the 10 commodity groups AAR tracks weekly increased over last year for the week, led by the miscellaneous carloads category at 15.7%.
Year-to-date intermodal traffic increased 2.1% to 11.5 million units from the same period last year, according to AAR.
Data by Association of American Railroads
