Intermodal kept a lid on U.S. rail traffic total in September

U.S. railroads' combined carload and intermodal volumes in September reached 2,496,209 units, a 1.9% decrease from September 2020's level, according to Association of American Railroads (AAR) data.

U.S. railroads logged 1,167,682 carloads last month, up 4.3%, and 1,328,527 containers and trailers, down 6.7% compared with the same period a year ago.

Fifteen of the 20 carload commodity categories tracked by the AAR each month posted carload gains, including coal, up 13.7%; crushed stone, sand and gravel, up 12.5%; and primary metal products, up 22.4%.

Commodities that posted declines during themonth included motor vehicles and parts, down 27.6%; grain, down 14.7%; and petroleum and petroleum products, down 3.1%.

AAR Senior Vice President John Gray attributed September's overall volume decrease to intermodal trends.

 "Keeping intermodal terminals functioning smoothly and at full capacity depends on consistent freight outflows to make room for new freight inflows. Unfortunately, due to limited availability of downstream truck and warehouse capacity, that’s not happening right now with predictable impacts on rail intermodal volume," he said in a press release.

While there's no single solution to the situation, "railroads are bringing intermodal yard capacity back online to increase storage availability as well as working with customers and truckers to accelerate container pickup among other efforts," Gray said.

"At the same time, railroads continue to see improvements in carload business with a variety of industrial goods, including steel, paper, crushed stone and chemicals showing continued progress in September," he added.

Excluding coal, carloads were up 0.8% in September, while excluding coal and grain, carloads were up3.5%.

U.S. carload traffic for the first nine months of 2021 totaled 9,009,639 carloads, up 7.9%, and intermodal traffic reached 10,812,108 units, up 9.9%.

Combined U.S. traffic for the first 39 weeks of 2021 totaled 19,821,747 carloads and intermodal units, up 9% year over year.