(The Association of American Railroads issued the following on August 3.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. railroads capped off a strong July with a record-breaking week for intermodal traffic, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.
Intermodal volume for the week ended July 29 reached 250,966 trailers or containers, breaking a weekly record that was set during the week ended October 22, 2005, when they moved 250,1152.
For the entire month of July, intermodal volume on U.S. railroads totaled 938,160 trailers or containers, an increase of 58,540 units (6.7 percent) over July 2005. Also up for the month was carload volume, which totaled 1,291,956 cars, up 24,873 carloads (2.0 percent) from July 2005.
Commodities showing carload gains in July 2006 included coal (up 23,110 carloads, or 4.5 percent, to 542,129 carloads); metals and products (up 8,088 carloads, or 16.9 percent, to 55,833 carloads); and grain (up 6,214 carloads, or 7.6 percent, to 87,788 carloads).
Commodities showing carload declines in July 2006 included motor vehicles and equipment (down 3,994 carloads, or 6.8 percent, to 55,163 carloads); lumber and wood products (down 2,563 carloads, or 11.0 percent, to 20,714 carloads); chemicals (down 1,990 carloads, or 1.7 percent, to 116,301 carloads); and metallic ores (down 1,894 carloads, or 5.6 percent, to 32,104 carloads).
Eight of the 19 major commodity categories tracked by the AAR saw U.S. carload increases in July 2006 compared to July 2005.
For the first seven months of 2006, total U.S. rail carloads were up 152,585 carloads (1.5 percent) to 10,082,047 carloads. Year-over-year increases in coal (up 168,361 carloads, or 4.2 percent); metal products (up 34,936 carloads, or 8.8 percent); and crushed stone, sand, and gravel (up 33,078 carloads, or 5.0 percent) — among other categories — offset declines in nonmetallic minerals (down 45,778 carloads, or 20.4 percent); chemicals (down 21,772 carloads, or 2.4 percent); and metallic ores (down 20,576 carloads, or 9.6 percent), among others.
“Coal carloadings on U.S. railroads in July 2006 were 4.5 percent above the July 2005 level, and are up 4.2 percent from January through July 2006,” noted AAR Vice President Craig F. Rockey. “Railroads are delivering unprecedented volumes of coal, helping to ensure continued availability of cost-effective coal-fired electricity. Given the weather that most of the country is currently suffering through, we are looking for coal movements to continue their torrid pace.”
U.S. intermodal traffic, which consists of trailers and containers on flat cars and is not included in carload figures, was up 422,242 trailers and containers (6.5 percent) for the first seven months of 2006 to 6,967,919 units.
Total volume for the first 30 weeks of 2006 was estimated at 996.9 billion ton-miles, up 2.8 percent from the same period a year ago.
Canadian rail carload traffic was up 758 carloads (0.3 percent) in July 2006 to 285,197 carloads, but with a total of 2,226,475 carloads through July, remains down 36,010 carloads (1.6 percent) for the year to date. In July, carload gains for grain (up 5,897 carloads, or 19.1 percent); metallic ores (up 3,136 carloads, or 8.8 percent); and food and kindred products (up 1,352 carloads, or 21.5 percent), among others, offset declines in carloads of coal (down 5,603 carloads, or 15.9 percent); primary forest products (down 1,828 carloads, or 18.5 percent); and pulp and paper (down 1,789 carloads, or 8.3 percent), among others.
Canadian intermodal traffic was up 12,109 units (7.1 percent) in July 2006 compared with July 2005 to 181,641 units, and up 76,736 units (6.1 percent) for the first seven months of 2006 to 1,342,220 units.
Carloads carried on Kansas City Southern de México (formerly Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana – TFM), a major Mexican railroad, were down 2,654 carloads (6.1 percent) in July 2006 to 40,755 carloads, while intermodal units carried totaled 13,854 units, down 1,176 units (7.8 percent). For the year-to-date, KCSM carloads carried were down 5.4 percent (19,145 carloads), while intermodal units carried were down 6.8 percent (8,409 units).
For just the week ended July 29, the AAR reported the following totals for U.S. railroads: 340,013 carloads, down 0.9 percent (2,924 carloads) from the corresponding week in 2005, with loadings down 3.1 percent in the East and up 0.9 percent in the West; intermodal volume of 250,966 containers and trailers, up 7.1 percent (16,608 units) from last year; and total volume of an estimated 34.2 billion ton-miles, up 0.9 percent from the corresponding week of 2005.
For Canadian railroads during the week ended July 29, the AAR reported volume of 73,759 carloads, down 1.4 percent from last year; and 46,146 containers and trailers, up 4.8 percent from the corresponding week of 2005.
Combined cumulative rail volume for the first 30 weeks of 2006 on 13 reporting U.S. and Canadian railroads totaled 12,308,522 carloads, up 1.0 percent (116,575 carloads) from last year, and 8,310,139 containers and trailers, up 6.4 percent (498,978 units) from the first 30 weeks of 2005.