Rail carload and intermodal volumes fall for week ending May 14, reports AAR

United States rail carload and intermodal volumes for the week ending May 14 were down again on an annual basis, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported this week.

Rail carloads, at 238,353 were down 11.4 percent annually and ahead of the week ending May 7 at 233,047 and below the week ending April 30 at 243,604

The AAR said that 4 of the 10 carload commodity groups it tracks were up compared to the same week a year ago, with miscellaneous carloads up 11.8 percent to 9,646, metallic ores and metals up 5.5 percent to 23,881, and nonmetallic minerals up 4.8 percent to 35,702. Coal was down 30.8 percent to 64,800, and petroleum and petroleum products fell 19 percent to 11,727 carloads.

For intermodal, U.S. containers and trailers were off 7.2 percent annually at 260,026, which topped the week ending May 14 at 259,876 and the week ending April 30 at 243,604.

On a year-to-date basis through the first 19 weeks of 2016, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 4,559,020 carloads, down 14.2 percent from the same point last year; and 4,888,034 intermodal units, down 1.4 percent from last year.