For the week ending March 12, 2016, North American freight rail traffic experienced a 12.8% drop in carloads and a 10.3% drop in intermodal, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported on March 17.
For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 489,177 carloads and intermodal units, down 11.6% compared with the same week in 2015.
Total carloads for the week ending March 12 were 243,275 carloads, down 12.8% compared with the same week in 2015, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 245,902 containers and trailers, down 10.3% compared to 2015. Intermodal volumes last year at this time were higher than usual, AAR says, reflecting the resolution of a labor dispute at West Coast ports.
Four of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2015. They included miscellaneous carloads, up 19.7% to 9,448 carloads; motor vehicles and parts, up 15.7% to 20,104 carloads; and chemicals, up 4.7% to 31,529 carloads. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2015 included coal, down 34.1% to 71,221 carloads; petroleum and petroleum products, down 13.1% to 11,067 carloads; and metallic ores and metals, down 7.1% to 19,285 carloads.
For the first 10 weeks of 2016, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 2,437,375 carloads, down 12.9% from the same point last year; and 2,599,835 intermodal units, up 5.6% from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 10 weeks of 2016 was 5,037,210 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 4.2% compared to last year.
North American rail volume for the week ending March 12, 2016, on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 328,864 carloads, down 12.2% compared with the same week last year, and 312,304 intermodal units, down 9.3% compared with last year. Total combined weekly rail traffic in North America was 641,168 carloads and intermodal units, down 10.8%. North American rail volume for the first 10 weeks of 2016 was 6,598,734 carloads and intermodal units, down 4% compared with 2015.
Canadian railroads reported 70,526 carloads for the week, down 11.3 percent, and 56,346 intermodal units, down 3.9 percent compared with the same week in 2015. For the first 10 weeks of 2016, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 1,291,546 carloads, containers and trailers, down 4.0 percent.
Mexican railroads reported 15,063 carloads for the week, down 6.7 percent compared with the same week last year, and 10,056 intermodal units, down 13.2 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 10 weeks of 2016 was 269,978 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, up 0.8 percent from the same point last year.