AAR reports mixed rail carload and intermodal volumes for September

Keeping in line with a consistent theme of mixed volumes, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week that carload volumes for the month of September were down annually, while intermodal remained up.

September carloads—at 1,417,750—were down 4.9 percent—or 72,597 carloads— annually. And six of the 20 carload commodities tracked by the AAR saw annual gains, with grain up 14.4 percent or 13,447 carloads and miscellaneous carloads up 33.1 percent or 8,057 carloads. Coal was down 8.2 percent or 46,085 carloads, and petroleum and petroleum products were off 15.6 percent or 12,692 carloads.

The AAR said that September carloads’ percentage decline is a tad above August 2015 and lower than its levels from April to July of this year, with September marking the eighth consecutive month of lower annual total carloads. It added that total carloads averaged 283,550 per week for the month, with only September 2009 having a lower weekly carload average, at 276,167, for September than September 2015. This data goes back to 1988, when the AAR first began culling this data.

Through the first nine months of 2015, the AAR reported that U.S. rail carloads declined 495,827, or 4.4 percent, to 10,880,686, compared to the first nine months of 2014.

“Once again, U.S. rail traffic in September was down mainly because of declines in carloads related to energy and steel,” said AAR Senior Vice President Policy and Economics John T. Gray. “Intermodal continues to do well while results vary for other commodity categories. As we head into the fall shipping season, railroads are confident they will be able to handle reliably and safely the traffic their customers send their way. Now, we just need a bit more cooperation from the economy.”

Intermodal—at 1,365,980 trailers and containers—was up 1.2 percent—or 16,272 trailers and containers—compared to September 2014. This increase marks one of the slightest annual intermodal gains over the last several years, according to the AAR, adding that over a 70-month stretch from December 2009 through September 2015, annual intermodal volumes has fallen in only one month, February 2015, which was due to the West Coast port labor issues.

Even with a slight annual growth rate, September’s weekly intermodal average of 273,196, set a new record for the month, topping September 2014. Intermodal was up 249,869 units, or 2.5 percent annually, to 10,417,267 through the first nine months of 2015 for the highest nine-month total in AAR history, and for the third quarter alone, intermodal was up 100,427 units, or 2.7 percent annually, to 3,812,238 through the first nine months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014.

At last month’s Intermodal Expo in Ft. Lauderdale Fla., which was hosted by the Intermodal Association of North America, industry stakeholders explained that domestic intermodal is seeing decent growth, due in part to the West Coast port labor issues from earlier this year, which hindered service and led to backlogs, has cleared out to a large degree and paving the way for increased intermodal throughput. Improved service is also being viewed as a key driver in the volume gains, too.