(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on September 8, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. railroads hauled more bulk railcar loads and intermodal containers or trailers in August than any time since the autumn of 2008, said the Association of American Railroads.
The intermodal counts improved last month after a July slowdown, the AAR said, while carloadings of bulk commodities and equipment showed their first pickup after four months of decline.
Major U.S.-owned railroads originated a weekly average of 234,643 intermodal shipments last month, the highest weekly level since October 2008. That comparison point would have been the peak intermodal shipping period of 2008, and a time when most traffic was already booked before the impact of the global financial crisis began to shrink freight volume.
The AAR said when it adjusts the intermodal traffic for normal seasonal trends, August levels also rose 0.6 percent over July and were at their highest adjusted weekly pace in two full years.
Carloads told a somewhat different story from intermodal.
With 16 of 19 cargo categories rising in August, the bulk loadings showed a clear rebound after declines that began last spring. A weekly average of 294,862 carloads was the strongest since November 2008, and the final August week saw the highest U.S. carload volume so far in 2010.
However, when measured against seasonal norms carloads fell 1.6 percent from July for the major U.S. carriers, the AAR said. Except for the 2009 recession year, the unadjusted weekly carload average so far in 2010 has been the weakest since 1993, even after accounting for increases over time in average railcar capacity.
Taken together, the AAR figures show a rail sector still recovering from the recession and rebounding last month after a lull earlier this summer. However, the traffic counts also continue to show volume down significantly from the past decade’s peaks that were reached before the recession set in.