AAR reports annual declines for week ending September 17
Annual volume declines for U.S. rail carload and intermodal volumes remained intact for the week ending September 17, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
Carloads were down 5.3 percent at 270,336 and were ahead of the week ending September 10, which came in at 252,627 and below the week ending September 3 at 273,117.
The AAR stated that three of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2015, including miscellaneous carloads, up 21.2 percent to 11,104 carloads; farm products excl. grain, and food, up 4.9 percent to 16,544 carloads; and chemicals, up 1 percent to 30,723 carloads. Commodity seeing annual declines included petroleum and petroleum products, down 17.4 percent to 11,633 carloads; forest products, down 13 percent to 10,013 carloads; and coal, down 12.5 percent to 90,369 carloads.
Intermodal containers and trailers fell 4.9 percent to 267,568, which was ahead of the 230,267 recorded for the week of September 10 and below the week ending September 3 at 288,427.
On a year-to-date basis through the first 37 weeks of 2016, carloads are down 10.8 percent at 9,191,535, and intermodal containers and trailers are off 3.2 percent at 9,540,513.
