[010320.EN.BIZ] North American Rail Freight Traffic Volume Down 7pc to 654,066 Carloads

COMBINED North American rail freight traffic for the week ending February 22 was 654,066 carloads and intermodal units, down seven per cent year on year, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

North American rail volume for the first eight weeks of 2020 was 5,278,276 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.7 per cent compared with 2019.

US rail traffic for the week was 482,690 carloads and intermodal units, down 7.6 per cent year on year. Carloads for the week ending February 22 were 232,869 carloads, down 9.3 per cent, while US weekly intermodal volume was 249,821 containers and trailers, down six per cent.

Four of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2019. They included chemicals, up 2,366 carloads to 33,284; petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,217 carloads to 13,401; and motor vehicles and parts, up 1,193 carloads to 17,898.

Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2019 included coal, down 23,225 carloads to 63,540; grain, down 2,785 carloads to 18,909; and nonmetallic minerals, down 1,628 carloads to 29,854.

North American rail volume that week, with 12 reporting US, Canadian and Mexican railways totalled 329,343 carloads, down 6.7 per cent, and 324,723 intermodal units, down 7.3 per cent year on year.

Canadian railways reported 76,331 carloads for the week, up 1.9 per cent, and 56,299 intermodal units, down 14.9 per cent. For the first eight weeks of 2020, Canadian railways reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 1,121,322 carloads, containers and trailers, down 1.7 per cent.

Mexican railways reported 20,143 carloads for the week, down 6.4 per cent, and 18,603 intermodal units, up 1.1 per cent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railways for the first eight weeks of 2020 was 298,985 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, up 8.9 per cent year on year.

Source : HKSG / Photo : Railway Age.