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Intermodal traffic surged in the third quarter, driven by a “remarkable” jump in international volume and all-time peak in domestic volume, according to the Intermodal Association of North America’s (IANA) latest “Intermodal Market Trends & Statistics” report.

Total volume climbed 20.3 percent to 3.6 million units compared with third-quarter 2009’s level. ISO container traffic soared 28.1 percent to 2 million units, total domestic equipment volume rose 11.7 percent to 1.6 million units, domestic container traffic jumped 13 percent to 1.2 million units and trailer volume increased 8.5 percent to 428,767.

Domestic container traffic could have been higher because “domestic container shipments may have been limited by capacity constraints,” IANA officials said in the report, adding that the constraints "may have compelled" some shippers to use trailers.

“While many domestic container fleet operators have placed orders for new containers, containership capacity constraints have prevented many of these orders from being filled,” they said. “As a result, there are fewer domestic containers available to handle surging demand.”

However, domestic container volumes continued to outpace the overall economic recovery and increase share vs. other modes, the report states.

Overall, the resurgence in international volumes and continued domestic container gains mean intermodal traffic is “well on the way to regaining the ground lost during the recession — third-quarter volumes were only 2.6 percent below the previous peak levels of 2008,” IANA officials said.