June and year-to-date intermodal volumes see over all declines, reports IANA

Intermodal volumes for the month of June and through the first six months of 2016 saw more downs than ups, based on data from the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA).

For the month of June, trailers dropped 26.3 percent at 135,610, following a 31.2 percent May decline. Trailer volumes have been down for various reasons in recent years, including low fuel prices that led to increased competition from trucking, as well as rising e-commerce sales pushing more freight onto trucks and off of intermodal trailers, IANA has stated in its quarterly Market Trends & Statistics Reports.

International, also known as ISO containers, fell 7.5 percent to 794,436 units in June. This decline is consistent with cumulative import declines for West Coast ports for the month.

Domestic containers in June were the lone bright spot volume-wise for June, up 5.8 percent at 591,230. This comes on the heels of a 3.0 percent annual increase in May.

And total volume for the month was off 4.0 percent at 1,521,276.

On a year-to-date basis through the first six months of 2016, IANA reported the following:
-trailers were down 26.5 percent annually at 816,771;
-domestic containers were up 4.8 percent annually at 3,429,303;
-ISO containers were down 3.3 percent annually at 4,376,551; and
-total volumes were off 2.3 percent annually at 8,622,625

IANA President and CEO Joni Casey provided insight on the most recent batch of data.

On the domestic side, she said that domestic intermodal shipments continue to show growth, although it is at a slower pace than the past year or so, while ISO volumes are still down for the year, even though losses are slowing.

The economy and strong dollar are still impacting traffic,” Casey said.  “And there are also higher inventories and adequate capacity in the over-the-road market. Growth will occur as inventories are drawn down and restocked and we enter the “peak” shipping season which usually happens between July - October. It will also be impacted by tightening of highway transportation capacity.”

Casey also noted that most sources, including IANA, are predicting upturn in second half of year, with domestic volumes up 4 - 5+  percent for year and international up around 2 -3 percent.