Intermodal Rail Volume Increases 2.2% for Week
U.S. rail intermodal traffic increased 2.2% in the week ended Nov. 8 compared with the same week last year, the Association of American Railroads reported.
Railroads moved 271,113 intermodal trailers and containers, AAR said Nov. 13 in its weekly report.
Rail carload volume, which excludes intermodal units, increased 0.2% year-over-year to 297,694 carloads.
Five of the 10 commodity groups AAR tracks increased over last year, led by nonmetallic minerals at 13%.
For the first 45 weeks, intermodal volume has increased 5.4% from the same period last year, to 11.73 million units.
Year to date, intermodal volume for all of North America increased 5.6% to 14.8 million trailers and containers.
Canadian railroads reported 54,537 intermodal units, a 3.1% decline compared with the same week in 2013. For the first 45 weeks of 2014, Canadian railroads reported volume of 2,580,255 intermodal units, a 6.4% increase from last year, according to AAR.
Mexican intermodal rail volume increased 14.9% to 11,095 intermodal units. Volume for the first 45 weeks of the year increased 5.3% to 481,449 intermodal units from last year.
The Intermodal Association of North America recently reported truck/rail freight volume rose 5.1% to 4.21 million shipments in the third quarter.
Total domestic intermodal volumes improved 5.5% to 2.08 million shipments in the quarter, while international intermodal gained 4.7% over last year’s third quarter to reach 2.14 million shipments.
The domestic container portion of the U.S. intermodal market rose 7%, according to IANA.
