AAR reports gains in U.S. carload and intermodal volumes for week ending May 5
United States rail carload and intermodal volumes each saw solid annual volume gains for the week ending May 5, according to data issued this week by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
Rail carloads increased 6.4% to 265,653, which trailed the week ending April 28 at 266,453 and topped the week ending April 21 at 264,522.
The AAR stated that nine of the 10 carload commodity groups it tracks were up annually for the week ending May 5, including: nonmetallic minerals, up 4,192 carloads, to 41,092; coal, up 4,023 carloads, to 77,468; and grain, up 3,250 carloads, to 25,100. The lone commodity to see an annual decline was miscellaneous carloads, down 2,575 carloads, to 8,201.
Intermodal containers and trailers headed up 8.5% to 280,374 for the week ending May 5, which was below the 285,045 recorded for the week ending April 28 and ahead of the 274,873 recorded for the week ending April 21.
Through the first 18 weeks of 2018, AAR reported that U.S rail carloads were 0.9% ahead of last year’s pace for the same period at 4,612,788. Intermodal units increased 5.9% to 4,875,755.
