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A steady flow of domestic trailers helped the North American intermodal industry increase traffic during the second quarter — the ninth-straight time the industry has posted quarterly growth, according to the Intermodal Association of North America's (IANA) quarterly Intermodal Market Trends & Statistics report.

Intermodal traffic increased 8.5 percent compared with second-quarter 2003 after rising 7.1 percent in the first quarter. During the past three quarters, traffic increased an average of 8.1 percent — the three strongest growth quarters since IANA began collecting intermodal data in 1996.

Second-quarter domestic trailer, domestic container and total domestic traffic rose 12.1 percent, 6.2 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively, compared with the similar 2003 period. Domestic traffic volume has posted gains in eight of the past nine quarters, the report states.

However, international containers still represent the majority of North American intermodal moves, totaling 55 percent of the quarter's traffic. International traffic rose 8.3 percent, or more than 130,000 loads, compared with second-quarter 2003, posting even stronger year-over-year growth than the first quarter's 5.7 percent increase.