Intermodal

Rail carloads, at 231,718, saw an annual decline by a very small margin, falling 0.04% annually, and intermodal containers and trailers, at 240,141 units, were off 12.1%.

Total first quarter volume—at 3,940,153 units—was down 8.6% annually, marking the seventh quarter of annual declines and the second largest decline over that period.

Rail carloads—at 936,637—saw a 1.8%, or 16,981 carloads, annual increase. Intermodal containers and trailers—at 945,313—fell 12.7%, or 137,879 units, annually.

The rapid development of electric and autonomous vehicles will arm trucking with competitive tools and advantages that they’ve not seen in quite some time.

In this podcast, Tony Hatch offered up his views on various aspects of the freight railroad and intermodal sectors, including: market conditions, service levels, volumes, capital expenditures, and safety, among other topics.

Class I railroad carrier Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) is making significant intermodal inroads, since formally becoming a collective entity on April 14, following the official of the company’s merger by the Surface Transportation Board in mid-March, with recent announcements heralding new respective intermodal agreements with Knight-Swift Transportation and Schneider National.

Rail carloads—at 240,584—saw a 5.1% annual increase, and intermodal containers and trailers—at 239,873—were down 10.8% annually.

Rail carloads—at 225,669—were down 4.6% annually, and intermodal containers and trailers—at 225,667 units—were down 17.0%.

Company officials said that the Forward Intermodal unit will operate a secure container drop yard in the area, at an existing company LTL terminal which they said is expected to create transloading efficiencies and improve speed for its customers.

Rail carloads—at 1,164,052—were down 1.2%, or 13,794 carloads, noted AAR. Intermodal containers and trailers—at 1,159,656—fell 13.3%, or 178,555 units, annually.

Total February volume—at 1,248,569 units—fell 7.3% annually. Trailers—at 61,211—saw a 27.6% annual decline, and domestic containers—at 611,460—were down 4.3%. All domestic equipment, which is comprised of trailers and domestic containers, were down 7.0%, to 672,671. ISO, or international, containers—at 575,898—dropped 7.6%.

Rail carloads—at 229,246—fell 1.5% annually, and intermodal containers and trailers—at 229,383—fell 13.0%.

February’s shipment reading—at 1.167—was down 0.3% annually, up against an easy annual comparison, while rising 3.8% over January’s 1.124 reading. And the February expenditures reading—at 4.020—was off 9.7% annually, while seeing a 1.9% decline, from January to February.

Logistics Management (LM) Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently spoke with Matt Muenster, Chief Economist for Green Bay, Wisc.-based Breakthrough, an innovator in transportation management, dedicated to creating transparent and fair strategies for the world’s leading shippers. Muenster provided Berman with an overview of steps shippers need to take and consider, relating to inventory management, and the impact of key economic indicators on freight volumes, among others.

Rail carloads—at 905,744—were down 1.6%, or 15,101 units—compared to February 2021. Intermodal containers and trailers—at 943,979—were off 8.4%, or 86,351 units, annually.