Intermodal Rail Volume Declines for First Time Since September
Weekly U.S. intermodal rail traffic declined for the first time since September, the Association of American Railroads reported.
Intermodal traffic for the week ended Oct. 24 declined 3.7% to 268,621 compared with the same week last year, AAR said Oct. 28 in its weekly report. The decline follows a 1% rise the prior week. The most recent decline was Sept. 16, when intermodal rail traffic fell 13.3%.
Rail carload volume for the week, which excludes intermodal units, dropped 7.4% year-over-year to 284,523 carloads.
Three of the 10 commodity groups AAR tracks increased for the week from the same time last year, including grain at 16.7% and the motor vehicles and parts category at 15.1%.
Total North American intermodal volume declined 2.7% to 340,848 units for the week. Canadian railroads moved 61,388 intermodal units, a 3.6% increase. Railroads in Mexico moved 10,839 intermodal containers, a 3.7% decline, according to AAR.
For the first 42 weeks of the year, U.S. intermodal traffic increased 2.2% to 11.23 million units from the same period in 2014.
Separately, Canadian National reported earnings of C$1.26 a share, exceeding the C$1.15 average of 25 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg News. The railroad exceeded earnings expectations on lower fuel costs and higher revenue from shipments of automotive and forest products.
Canada’s biggest railroad reported an operating ratio of 53.8% for the quarter, and the gauge — which compares expenses with sales — may remain below 60% through 2016, Chief Financial Officer Luc Jobin said Oct. 27
Data by the Association of American Railroads
