AAR reports another round of volume declines for week ending June 11

United States rail carload and intermodal volumes were again down for the week ending June 11, according to data issued by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Carloads dipped 8.7 percent annually at 248,039, which, while still down, stands as an improvement compared to the 16.6 percent annual decline for the week ending June 4.  This topped the weeks ending June 4 and May 28, which came in at 224,258 and 246,881, respectively.

The AAR said that four of the 10 carload commodity groups it tracks were up compared to the same week a year ago, with miscellaneous carloads up 16.4 percent to 11,149, farm products excluding grain and food up 2 percent to 16,545, and grain up 0.6 percent to 20,300. Petroleum and petroleum products dropped 29.1 percent to 9,706 carloads, and motor vehicles and parts were down 23.5 percent to 10,820 carloads, and coal fell 18.3 percent to 73,279.

Intermodal containers and trailers were off 6.3 percent to 265,432, which was not as steep as the 17.9 percent decline from the week ending June 4. The weekly tally was ahead of the week ending June 4 at 231,088 and below the week ending May 28 at 267,036.

On a year-to-date basis through the first 23 weeks of 2016, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 5,522,488 carloads, down 13.7 percent from the same point last year; and 5,914,283 intermodal units, down 8 percent from last year.