Rail Traffic Reaches 18-Month High in May

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported yesterday that intermodal volume on U.S. freight railroads for the week ended May 29, 2010, reached its highest level since November 2008. Intermodal traffic was up 35.5% from last year and 10.3% from 2008. Unlike 2008 and 2009, Week 21 of 2010 did not include the Memorial Day holiday.  Highlights include:

1. Compared with the same week in 2009, container volume increased 37.5% while trailer volume rose 25.2%. In comparison to 2008, container volume was up 19.4 percent while trailer volume fell 23.3 percent.

2. U.S. railroads also originated 286,665 carloads during the week ended May 29, up 21.9% from the comparable week in 2009, but down 8.9% from 2008.

3. All 19 carload commodities increased from the comparable week in 2009 and three groups posted increases over 2008 levels. Farm products excluding grain posted the most significant increase, up 41.1 percent over 2008.

4. For the first 21 weeks of 2010, the cumulative volume of carloads for U.S. railroads was up 7.2% from 2009, but down 13.5% from 2008, and the volume of trailers and containers was up 11.5% percent from 2009, but down 7.3% from 2008.

5. Combined North American rail volume for the first 21 weeks of 2010 on U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads was up 10.2% from last year, and trailers and containers increased by 11.9% from last year.