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International container volume continued to increase in the second quarter — so much so, it bested quarterly domestic container volume growth for the first time in about four years, according to the Intermodal Association of North America’s (IANA) latest Intermodal Market Trends & Statistics report.

ISO container volume jumped 20.9 percent to nearly 1.8 million units while domestic container volume rose 16.4 percent to a record 1.1 million units compared with second-quarter 2009 levels.

“Although domestic container volume grew at a somewhat slower pace than international for the first time in recent years, it was the 20th-consecutive quarter of growth for domestic containers,” the report states.

IANA also reported that total North American intermodal volume in the second quarter reached 3.3 million units, up 17.2 percent year over year. All domestic equipment totaled a quarterly record 1.5 million units, up 13.2 percent, while trailer volume totaled 406,080 units, up 5 percent.

“Inventory restocking likely played a major role in driving the large increase in intermodal volume recorded this quarter,” IANA officials said in the report. “During last year’s downturn, retailers aggressively cut inventories to the point where they were so low at the beginning of 2010 that they could not support even a modest rise in consumer spending.”