(The Association of American Railroads issued the following on August 7.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. railroads originated 1,606,877 carloads of freight in July 2008, up 16,825 carloads (1.1 percent) from July 2007. U.S. railroads also originated 1,125,795 intermodal trailers and containers in July 2008, a decrease of 25,645 units (2.2 percent) from July 2007, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.
Commodities showing carload gains in July 2008 included coal (up 28,716 carloads, or 4.3 percent, to 697,055 carloads); grain (up 8,010 carloads, or 7.2 percent, to 119,455 carloads); and chemicals (up 6,197 carloads, or 4.1 percent, to 156,871 carloads).
Commodities showing carload declines in July 2008 included motor vehicles and equipment (down 17,248 carloads, or 22.2 percent, to 60,454 carloads); coke (down 8,358 carloads, or 29.7 percent, to 19,744 carloads); and lumber and wood products (down 3,744 carloads, or 17.1 percent, to 18,182 carloads).
Seven of the 19 major commodity categories tracked by the AAR saw U.S. carload increases in July 2008 compared to July 2007.
For the first seven months of 2008, total U.S. rail carloads were up 36,575 carloads (0.4 percent) to 10,058,613 carloads. Year-over-year traffic was up in coal (up 138,386 carloads, or 3.3 percent); grain (up 94,784 carloads, or 14.5 percent); and chemicals (up 30,606 carloads, or 3.3 percent), among others. Year-over-year traffic was down in motor vehicles and equipment (down 96,029 carloads, or 15.5 percent); coke (down 55,097 carloads, or 31.9 percent); and crushed stone, sand, and gravel (down 38,213 carloads, or 6.0 percent), among others.
“All things considered — including a continued weak economy and residual effects from the devastating floods in the Midwest in June — the increase in U.S. rail traffic in July was gratifying,” said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. “With fuel prices staying high, many shippers are finding that the fuel efficiency of rail is just one more reason to turn to railroads to meet their transportation needs.”
U.S. intermodal traffic, which consists of trailers and containers on flat cars and is not included in carload figures, was down 217,003 trailers and containers (3.1 percent) for the first seven months of 2008 to 6,886,812 units.
Total volume for the first 31 weeks of 2008 was estimated at 1.04 trillion ton-miles, up 1.6 percent from the same period last year.
Canadian rail carload traffic was down 16,759 carloads (4.4 percent) in July 2008 to 362,163 carloads. For the year to date, total Canadian carloads were down 99,367 carloads (4.1 percent) to 2,300,378 carloads. In July, carload gains for metallic ores (up 5,029 carloads, or 7.7 percent) and crushed stone and gravel (up 3,580 carloads, or 33.5 percent) was not enough to offset declines in grain (down 9,165 carloads, or 20.2 percent), lumber and wood products (down 4,925 carloads, or 27.3 percent), and coal (down 4,569 carloads, or 10.8 percent), among others.
Canadian intermodal traffic was up 9,969 units (4.2 percent) in July 2008 compared with July 2007 to 248,147 units, and up 60,545 units (4.3 percent) for the first seven months of 2008 to 1,474,842 units.
Carloads carried on Kansas City Southern de México, a major Mexican railroad, were down 1,615 carloads (3.1 percent) in July 2008 to 50,708 carloads, while intermodal units carried totaled 23,716 units, up 591 units (2.6 percent). For the year-to-date, KCSM carloads carried were down 3.3 percent (10,977 carloads), while intermodal units carried were up 8.7 percent (11,832 units).
For just the week ended August 2, the AAR reported the following totals for U.S. railroads: 337,765 carloads, down 0.3 percent (876 carloads) from the corresponding week in 2007, with loadings down 3.7 percent in the East and up 2.3 percent in the West; intermodal volume of 230,825 containers and trailers, down 3.0 percent (7,025 units) from last year; and total volume of an estimated 35.4 billion ton-miles, up 0.6 percent from the corresponding week of 2007.
For Canadian railroads during the week ended August 2, the AAR reported volume of 76,441 carloads, down 1.7 percent from last year; and 50,315 containers and trailers, up 6.4 percent from the corresponding week of 2007.
Combined cumulative rail volume for the first 31 weeks of 2008 on 12 reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 12,358,991 carloads, down 0.5 percent (62,792 carloads) from last year, and 8,361,654 containers and trailers, down 1.8 percent (156,458 units) from the first 31 weeks of 2007.