Record intermodal powers U.S. freight gains
Written by Douglas John Bowen
U.S. freight traffic categories continued to grain ground in the week ending September 13, 2014, the Association of American Railroads reported Thursday, Sept. 18, boosted by record-breaking intermodal activity.
U.S. freight carload traffic for the week rose 1.4% measured against the comparable week in 2013, AAR said, while U.S. intermodal volume advanced 5%. The week’s intermodal volume, with 279,052 units, was a record high for the railroad industry,” AAR emphasized. Total combined U.S. weekly rail traffic was up 3.1% compared with the same week last year.
Six of 10 of the carload commodity groups AAR tracks on a weekdly basis posted increases compared with the same week in 2013, including petroleum and petroleum products with 16,902 carloads, up 29.9%, nonmetallic minerals, up 9.7%, and metallic ores and metals, up 6.3%.
Canadian freight carload traffic fared less well, falling 4.7% during the week ending Sept. 13, though Canadian intermodal volume rose 6.2% compared with the same week in 2013. Mexican freight carload traffic rebounded from last week’s decline, notching a 10.9% advance, while Mexican intermodal also rose modestly, up 0.5%.
Combined North American freight carload traffic for the first 37 weeks of 2014 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian, was up 3% measured against the comparable period in 2013. Combined North American intermodal volume for the period was up 5.8%.
