advertisement

---

August’s second-last full week was a relatively good one for U.S. railroads. During the week ending Aug. 20, they originated 300,521 carloads, up 1.1 percent, and 238,680 intermodal loads, up 1 percent compared with volumes from the same 2010 period, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
 
Fourteen of 20 carload commodity groups posted gains, led by a 24.7 percent uptick in metallic ores volume, 15.8 percent rise in iron and steel scrap loads, and 15 percent increase in petroleum products carloads. Grain traffic tumbled 21.3 percent and farm products traffic, excluding grain, declined 14.5 percent.

In terms of intermodal, western volumes dipped 1 percent while eastern volumes climbed 4 percent in the year’s 33rd week, according to Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc.’s weekly “Rail Flash” report. Western volume trends reflect expectations for a later, more compressed peak season, Baird analysts said in the report.

“Western volumes solidly improved sequentially in Week 33, a potential indication of peak season demand we will continue to monitor in coming weeks,” they said.
 
Meanwhile, Canadian railroads reported weekly carload volume of 78,212 units, up 9.6 percent, and intermodal volume of 51,890 units, up 1.4 percent year over year. For the week ending Aug. 20, Mexican railroads increased carload traffic 4 percent to 14,010 units and boosted intermodal volume 33 percent to 9,624 units.
 
Through 2011’s first 33 weeks, 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads originated 12.4 million carloads, up 2.3 percent, and 9.3 million containers and trailers, up 6 percent vs. last year.

For more AAR traffic data for the week ending Aug. 20 and through 33 weeks, follow this link.