Annual declines continue for U.S. carload and intermodal volumes, reports AAR

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week that United States rail carload and intermodal volumes for the week ending September 10 both again saw annual declines.

Carloads fell 6 percent to 252,627 and were below the week ending September 3 at 273,117 and topped the week ending August 27 at 269,645.

And the AAR said that three of the ten carload commodity groups it tracks saw annual gains, including: grain, up 26.3 percent to 22,599 carloads; miscellaneous carloads, up 16.1 percent to 8,593 carloads; and nonmetallic minerals, up 2 percent to 35,407. Leading declining commodities for the week included petroleum and petroleum products, down 26.5 percent to 10,452 carloads; coal, down 15.7 percent to 87,058 carloads; and metallic ores and metals, down 4.5 percent to 19,644 carloads.

Intermodal containers and trailers dropped 4.8 percent compared to the same week last year at 230,267, which was below the week ending September 3 at 288,427 and the week ending August 27 at 270,012.

On a year-to-date basis through the first 36 weeks of 2016, carloads are down 11 percent at 8,921,199, and intermodal containers and trailers are off 7.1 percent at 18,194,144.