U.S. freight traffic trending up, AAR says

U.S. freight carload traffic rose 8.2% in the week ending Feb. 19, measured against the comparable week one year ago, the Association of American Railroads said Thursday. U.S. intermodal volume for the week did even better, up 16.9% compared with the same week in 2010.

Sixteen of AAR’s 20 carload commodity groups posted increases from the comparable week in 2010. Leading the gainers: metallic ores, up 77.6%; stone, clay and glass products, up 20.2%; nonmetallic minerals, up 18.%; and coke, up 17.8%. Decliners, all with single-digit declines at worst, included grain mill products, down 9%, waste and nonferrous scrap, down 7.2%, and primary forest products, down a fractional 0.8%.

Canadian freight carload volume for the week was up 4.1% from last year, and intermodal rose 6.8%. Mexican freight carload traffic rose a modest 0.3% for the week ending Feb. 19, while intermodal advanced a more robust 32.8%.

Combined North American freight carload volume for the first seven weeks of 2011 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads was up 5.1% compared with the same period in 2010, while intermodal also rose, up 8.4%, compared with last year.