IANA: Intermodal growth continues
Written by Douglas John BowenIntermodal container volume set a new record in 2011 with 12.4 million moves, beating former record-year 2007 by 3.7%, the Intermodal Associaton of North America (IANA) said Thursday.
According to IANA’s Intermodal Market Trends & Statistics report, North America’s intermodal industry showed resilience in the fourth quarter of 2011, “delivering solid overall volume increases of 4.1% for the quarter and 4.9% for the year. It was intermodal’s second-consecutive year and eighth-consecutive quarter of year-over-year volume gains,” IANA said.
Domestic container volume was the strongest intermodal segment, rising 12.1% in the fourth quarter, and 9.6% for the year. Only trailer volume, the weakest segment, declined in the fourth quarter, down 3.0%, and even trailer volume notched a gain for the full year, up 1.7%.
IANA added, “Gains in domestic containers were solid in all IANA regions during the quarter. Big box domestic loadings of 48-foot and 53-foot domestic containers also posted their highest-recorded numbers in Q4 and the year, accounting for 39.8% of all container volume during 2011.”
