AAR: U.S. intermodal volume jumped 12 percent in Week 27

U.S. railroads' intermodal volume surged 12 percent to 244,679 containers and trailers during the week ending July 7 compared with the same week in 2017, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Carload volume also rose during the week, up 5.4 percent to 240,514 units. Total traffic for U.S. railroads climbed 8.6 percent to 485,193 carloads and intermodal units during the week compared to a year ago, according to an AAR press release.

Nine of the 10 carload commodity groups that AAR follows on a weekly basis posted increases for the week compared to a year ago. They included grain, up 3,207 carloads to 21,299; nonmetallic minerals, up 2,341 carloads to 35,270; and petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,808 carloads to 10,257.

The commodity that logged the only decrease was coal, which dropped 371 carloads to 76,562.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads reported 77,607 carloads for the week, up 9.4 percent, and 64,497 intermodal units, up 2.7 percent compared with the same week in 2017. Mexican railroads reported 20,065 carloads for the week, down 0.6 percent compared with the same week last year, and 18,078 intermodal units, up 8.6 percent.

For the first 27 weeks of 2018:
• U.S. railroads logged 14,386,164 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 3.8 percent compared with the same week in 2017;
• Canadian railroads posted cumulative volume of 3,982,386 carloads, containers and trailers, up 3.7 percent over the year-ago period; and
• Mexican railroads reported cumulative volume of 1,030,574 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers.