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Carloads remained down for U.S. railroads in June’s first full week, which ended June 9. They originated 285,413 carloads, down 1.7 percent compared with the same 2011 period, according to the Association of American Railroads. Weekly carload volume dropped 2.5 percent in the East and 1.2 percent in the West.
 
Only 10 of 20 carload commodity groups posted gains, led by petroleum products (50.4 percent), motor vehicles and equipment (29.6 percent), and lumber and wood products (10.7 percent). Iron and steel scrap volume fell 21.2 percent, coke traffic declined 12.7 percent and grain loads decreased 11.1 percent.
 
On the opposite side of the ledger, the roads’ weekly intermodal volume climbed again, increasing 3.8 percent year over year to 246,422 units.
 
Meanwhile, Canadian railroads reported weekly carloads totaling 81,597, up 5.5 percent, and intermodal volume totaling 55,678 units, up 12 percent. For the week ending June 9, Mexican railroads increased carloadings 2.3 percent to 15,006 units and boosted intermodal volume 12.6 percent to 9,920 units.
 
Through 2012’s first 23 weeks, 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads originated 8,552,626 carloads, down 1.8 percent, and 6,655,073 containers and trailers, up 4.1 percent compared volumes from the same period last year.

To access graphics provided by ASI-Transmatch that show changes to and depict trends in AAR weekly carloading data through June 9, log onto www.progressiverailroading.com and scroll toward the bottom of the home page.