U.S. intermodal rebounds as March begins

U.S. intermodal volume for the week ending March 7, 2015 gained ground, ending a three-week slump and aiding overall U.S. freight traffic for the week, the Association of American Railroads said Wednesday, March 11.

U.S. freight carload traffic remained mired in its own slide for a third week, down 2.1% measured against the comparable week in 2014. But U.S. intermodal volume rose 4%, boosting overall U.S. freight traffic to a 0.8% gain.

Just three of the 10 U.S. carload commodity groups AAR tracks on a weekly basis posted increases compared with the same week in 2014. They were: grain, up 11.5%, farm products, up 10.1%, and chemicals, up 2.7%. By contrast, coal fell 6.5%, petroleum and petroleum products slipped 4.1%, and nonmetallic minerals fell 2.7%.

Both Canada and Mexico sported robust gains for the week ending March 7, 2015, measured against the comparable week in 2014. Canadian freight carload traffic for the week ending March 7 rose solidly, up 9.2%, while Canadian intermodal volume did even better on a percentage basis, up 14.1%. Mexican freight carload traffic also did well, up 10.8% compared with the same week a year ago, while Mexican intermodal rose 19.6%.

Combined North American freight carload traffic for the week ending Mar. 7, 2015 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads eked out a 0.6% gain compared with the same week last year. Combined North American intermodal volume of the three NAFTA nations rose 6.2%. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was up 3.2%, AAR said.