U.S. freight carload, intermodal volumes advance

U.S. freight carload traffic for the week ending July 2 advanced 0.3% compared with the same week in 2010, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday. U.S. intermodal volume, meanwhile, gained 2.5% for the week compared with a year ago.

AAR noted 15 of the 20 carload commodity groups it measured posted increases from the comparable week in 2010. Pacing the gaining groups were farm products excluding grain, up 22.3%, metallic ores, up 18.5%, and lumber and wood products, up 14.3%. AAR said waste and nonferrous scrap was the only group posting a notable decrease, down 12.3%.

Canadian freight carload volume moved up 7.6% for the week ending July 2, compared with volume one year ago; Canadian intermodal volume also rose, up 6.9%. Mexican freight carload volume rose 3.9% compared with the same week last year, while intermodal was up 60.4%.

Combined North American freight carload volume for the first 26 weeks of 2011 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican was up 2.7% compared with the same time span last year, while intermodal marked a 7.1% gain.