AAR reports further carload and intermodal declines for week ending April 9

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week that United States rail carload and intermodal volumes saw sizable annual declines for the week ending April 9.

Carloads dropped 20 percent compared to the same week a year ago at 229,704, which was below the week ending April 2 at 238,138 and the week ending March 26 at 232,348.

Just two of the ten commodities tracked by the AAR were up annually, with miscellaneous carloads up 20.7 percent at 9,274, and motor vehicles and parts up 0.9 percent to 17,986 carloads. Coal dropped 44.9 percent to 58,166 carloads, and petroleum and petroleum products fell 22.3 percent to 11,910.

Intermodal containers and trailers were off 7.8 percent annually at 249,355, which topped the week ending April 2 at 253,841 and the week ending March 26 at 237,923.

On a year-to-date basis through the first 14 weeks of 2016, total U.S. rail carload and intermodal volumes are down 7.1 percent annually at 6,961,982.