Railroad shipping: AAR says March volumes are down year over year
Jeff Berman, Senior Editor -- Logistics Management, 4/4/2008
WASHINGTON—Continuing what has been a sluggish year for freight transportation volumes, carload freight and intermodal volumes on U.S. railroads were down in March, according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
The AAR reported that U.S. railroads originated 1,308,482 carloads of freight in March, which was down 0.1 percent—or 1,467 carloads—from March 2007. And intermodal volume, which the AAR said is comprised of trailers and containers on flat cars and is not part of carload figures, was down 5.7 percent—or 51,705 trailers or containers—coming in at 856,404 units for the month.
On a quarterly basis, the AAR said that total U.S. rail carloadings were up1.1 percent—or 46,756 carloads—to 4,172,966 carloads, and intermodal volume was off 4.1 percent—or 119,944 units—at 2,819,095 trailers and containers. Total volume for the first quarter was estimated at 431.5 billion ton-miles, which was up 2.3 percent from the first quarter of 2007.
While there is no official word as to whether the U.S. economy is in a recession, although several economists say that is the case, it is clear that the unsettled economic picture is having an effect on March’s performance, according to Tom White, AAR director of editorial services.
“The economy is a still a big question mark,” White told LM in an interview. “The housing industry is still doing very poorly as seen with low volumes for lumber and wood products. And the automotive industry still has not recovered. Those are the negatives out there.”
White also noted that the decline of the U.S. dollar has had a definite impact on U.S. imports, which has had a subsquent effect on declining intermodal loadings. He added that this has resulted in some trucking companies—that have traditionally relied on intermodal—are moving more freight over the road themselves to collect more revenue.
While the decline of the dollar has hindered imports, White is has helped spur export growth somewhat. And this has been reflected in strong grain and coal numbers for March and the first quarter. Coal was up 5.9 percent—or 32,369 carloads—in March to 582, 574 carloads, according to the AAR. And grain was up 13.9 percent—or 12,055 carloads—to 98,650 carloads. For the quarter, coal was up 4.3 percent to 1,853601 carloads, while grain was up 17.3 percent to 327,512 carloads.
“Considering that we started the year at very high inventory levels for electric utilities, you have got to assume a lot of that increase is related to the export market,” said White.
For the week ending March 29, the AAR said U.S. railroads were up 5.6 percent at 332,933 carloads from the same timeframe in 2007, with loadings down 7.1 percent in the East and up 17.2 percent in the West. Intermodal volumes for the week were down 2.7 percent at 222,727 trailers and containers, and total volume was up 7.5 percent at an estimated 34.4 billion ton-miles.
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