Railroad shipping: AAR reports August carload and intermodal figures are off

Jeff Berman, Group News Editor -- Logistics Management, 9/4/2008

WASHINGTON—It is largely the same story when it comes to railroad freight volumes, with the Association of American Railroads (AAR) announcing earlier today that both carload and intermodal volumes were down in August compared to the same timeframe last year.

In August, US railroads originated 1,340,387 carloads of freight, which was down 0.5 percent—or 6,125 carloads—from August 2007, said the AAR. And intermodal loadings at 941,500 intermodal trailers and containers were off 1.7 percent—or 16,040 units for the month.

In terms of rail shipments by commodity, those that have been performing well for most of the year did well in August—and vice versa. Of the 19 commodities tracked by the AAR, seven were up—paced by coal, metallic ores, chemicals, and grain—which were up 5.2 percent, 18.8 percent, 3.4 percent, and 3.3 percent, respectively. On the flip side, motor vehicles and equipment continued with low totals, down 33.0 percent, and crushed sand, stone, and gravel and coke loadings were down 10.3 percent and 31.9 percent, respectively.

On a year-to-date basis—for the first eight months of 2008—the AAR said that US rail carloads were up 0.3 percent to 11,399,000 carloads. Intermodal traffic, which is not included in carload figures, was down 2.9 percent to 7,828,312 units.

But with a down economy, the current situation on the rails is not all that bad, noted AAR Director of Editorial Services Tom White.

“Given the fact that we have a very slow economy right now, it is rather impressive that our overall numbers are up slightly,” said White. “It would be nice if they were up more, but at least they are up a little bit. When you take a look at it, coal (up 6.0 percent year-to-date), grain (up 6.3 percent year-to-date), and chemicals (up 6.9 percent year-to-date) are what is responsible for the overall increase in carloading.”

And another factor to consider when looking at 2008 performance is the weak dollar, which White said is making it more attractive to export grain and coal. This, he said, has been a major driver in the slightly increased year-over-year volume, because grain and coal are currently very attractive in international markets.

The AAR reported that total volume for the first eight months of 2008 was estimated at 1.18 trillion ton-miles, which is 1.4 percent ahead of last year’s pace.