Rail carload and intermodal volumes fall for the week ending June 18, reports AAR

United States rail carload and intermodal volumes again saw annual declines for the week ending June 18, according to data issued by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Carloads dipped 8.5 percent annually at 250,748, which topped the week ending June 11 at 248,039, and the week ending June 4 at 224,258.

The AAR said that three of the 10 carload commodity groups it tracks were up compared to the same week a year ago, with miscellaneous carloads up 16.8 percent to 10,454 and grain up 24.3 percent to 22,711. Petroleum and petroleum products dropped 24.8 percent to 10,627 carloads, and coal fell 20.6 percent to 75,606.

Intermodal containers and trailers were off 4.2 percent to 265,438, which was basically even with the 265,432 from the week ending June 11 and ahead of the 231,088 from the week ending June 4.

On a year-to-date basis through the first 24 weeks of 2016, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 5,773,236 carloads, down 13.3 from the same point last year; and 6,179,631 intermodal units, down 2.4 percent from last year.