AAR: U.S. carload traffic fell, Canada's rose in week 41

U.S. railroads hauled 531,936 carloads and intermodal units in the week ending Oct. 15, down 4.2 percent compared with the same week last year, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported yesterday.

The railroads logged 262,702 carloads, down 6.1 percent, and 269,234 containers and trailers, down 2.2 percent compared with traffic during the same week in 2015.

Two of the 10 carload commodity groups posted increases during the week: miscellaneous carloads were up 8.7 percent to 10,034 units; and grain was up 7.5 percent to 27,300 units. Among the groups posting decreases, petroleum and petroleum products were down 23.9 percent to 10,492 carloads; forest products were down 16.1 percent to 8,744 carloads; and metallic ores and metals were down 12.2 percent to 18,849 carloads.

At the same time, Canadian railroads hauled 81,573 carloads, an 11.9 percent increase compared with a year ago. Intermodal volumes were essentially flat at 58,700 units.

In Mexico, railroads logged 15,189 carloads for the week, down 6.5 percent, and 13,405 intermodal units, up 2.2 percent compared with the same week last year.

U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads' cumulative traffic declined for 2016’s first 41 weeks on a year-over-year basis. In the U.S., traffic totaled 20,874,553 carloads and intermodal units, down 6.8 percent; in Canada, volume totaled 5,345,651 units, down 5.4 percent; and in Mexico, the traffic tally was 1,106,125 units, down 2.5 percent.