AAR: U.S. traffic tumbled for third-straight month in August

In August, U.S. railroads originated 1,133,375 carloads, down 2% percent, and 1,239,290 containers and trailers, down 6.3% year over year, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

Combined, U.S. traffic totaled 2,372,665 units, down 4.3%. Excluding coal and grain loads, carloads increased 1.2%

Nine of the 20 carload commodity categories tracked by the AAR posted gains in August, including motor vehicles and parts (13.6%), petroleum and petroleum products (12.9%) and primary metal products (4.6%). The decliners included grain (22.9%), pulp and paper products (10.2%) and coal (2.8%).

U.S. carloads fell for the third-straight month in August, said AAR Senior Vice President John Gray in a press release.

“A major reason why is that other than automotive manufacturing, the industrial economy, in recent months, has not been doing as well as other areas of the economy,” he said.  “Until industrial activity, and especially manufacturing, recovers, rail volumes in many key markets could remain constrained.”

For just the week ending Sept. 2, U.S. carloads dipped 1.6% to 231,113 units while intermodal volume fell 8.7% to 245,738 units.

Meanwhile, Canadian railroads for the week reported 89,904 carloads, up 2.2%, and 72,134 intermodal units, down 14.6% year over year. Through 2023’s first 35 weeks, their cumulative rail traffic declined 3.3% to 5,519,818 units.

Mexican railroads for the week reported 16,321 carloads, up 9.2%, and 10,360 intermodal units, down 3.5%. Their 35-week total of 982,029 units rose 5.1%.

North American rail volume through 35 weeks totaled 22,675,055 units, down 4.1% compared with the same 2022 period.