The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week that United States rail carloads and intermodal loadings were down annually for the week ending August 6.
Carloads were down 7 percent at 268,006, which was below the week ending July 30 at 274,355 and ahead of the week ending July 23 at 261,748.
The AAR said that two of the 10 carload commodity groups it tracks saw annual gains, including miscellaneous carloads, up 15.7 percent to 10,555 carloads; and grain, up 12.1 percent to 24,120 carloads. Petroleum and petroleum products, down 24 percent to 10,508 carloads; coal, down 15.7 percent to 89,310 carloads; and forest products, down 7.2 percent to 10,008 carloads.
Intermodal containers and trailers dropped 3.9 percent annually to 263,589, which topped the week ending July 30 at 262,561 and trailed the week ending July 23 at 266,322.
On a year-to-date basis through the first 31 weeks of 2016, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 7,588,589 carloads, down 11.7 from the same point last year; and 7,978,993 intermodal units, down 2.8 percent from last year.