Intermodal rail volume for October rose 4.9% to the highest level on record compared with the same time last year, the Association of American Railroads reported.
Intermodal volume rose to 1.5 million units. The weekly average of 276,350 containers was the highest ever, and October marked the 59th straight month of year-over-year intermodal increases, according to AAR.
“America’s railroads are moving an enormous amount of freight today,” AAR Senior Vice President John Gray said in a statement.
“In the first 10 months of 2014, total U.S. carload plus intermodal volume was 24.3 million units, which is over 1 million units more than in the first 10 months of 2013 and the highest year-to-date total since 2007,” he added.
Fifteen of the 20 categories tracked by AAR posted increases in October from the prior year, led by petroleum and petroleum products (20.7%).
Intermodal volume for the week ended Nov. 1 increased 5.9% to 279,819 year-over-year, the rail trade group said.
For the first 44 weeks of the year, U.S. railroads moved 11.5 million intermodal containers and trailers, up 5.5% from 2013.
