AAR reports U.S. carload and intermodal gains for week ending February 11

United States rail carloads and intermodal container and trailer volumes both saw annual gains for the week ending February 11, according to data issued by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) this week.

Carloads headed up 3.9 percent to 253,670, which was below the week ending February 4 at 269,994 and the week ending January 28 at 259,708.

And three of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2016, including coal, up 18.7 percent to 89,318 carloads; nonmetallic minerals, up 4.2 percent to 30,850 carloads; and metallic ores and metals, up 0.8 percent to 19,348 carloads. Commodity groups that posted annual decreases included petroleum and petroleum products, down 13.6 percent to 9,763 carloads; grain, down 8.5 percent to 20,477 carloads; and forest products, down 7 percent to 9,614 carloads.

U.S. intermodal containers and trailers rose 1.5 percent annually to 264,761, down from 271,480 recorded the week of February 4 and the 269,988 from the week ending January 28.

On a year-to-date basis through the first six weeks of 2017, U.S. carloads are up 4.5 percent annually at 1,520,237, with intermodal containers and trailers down 0.4 percent at 1,557,309.