AAR reports declining U.S. rail carload and intermodal volumes for week ending March 21

United States rail carload and intermodal volumes saw annual declines for the week ending March 21, according to data issued this week by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Rail carloads—at 224,048—were off 5.4% annually, trailing the weeks ending March 14 and March 7, at 226,039 and 229,742, respectively.

AAR said that three of the 10 carload commodity groups it tracks saw annual gains, including: chemicals, up 3,760 carloads, to 34,471; miscellaneous carloads, up 858 carloads, to 9,747; and farm products excl. grain, and food, up 507 carloads, to 15,984. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2019 included coal, down 9,223 carloads, to 56,093; nonmetallic minerals, down 4,774 carloads, to 30,674; and metallic ores and metals, down 1,427 carloads, to 18,576.

“Demand for rail service depends on the demand further down the chain for the products railroads haul and on the ability of firms they serve to produce what is demanded,” said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray in a statement.  “Autos are a good example.  What with job uncertainty and either voluntary or enforced social distancing for many people, this isn’t a great time to visit new car showrooms, so demand for autos is down.  Further, most automakers have suspended manufacturing operations for the time being.  As a result of both these factors, rail carloads of autos and auto parts fell considerably this past week. It wouldn’t be surprising to see rail volumes of other categories soften in the weeks ahead as steps taken to limit the spread of COVID-19 continue to impact producers, both here and abroad, particularly those of consumer goods or intermediate products from which those goods are produced. The good news is that the intermodal volumes of the railroads serving the West Coast ports that receive the bulk of imports from China appear to have plateaued over the last four weeks, indicating that we may have seen the worst of the COVID-19 impacts on the Asia trade.”

Intermodal containers and trailers—at 235,918—slipped 11.4% annually, trailing the week ending March 14 at 236,978, and topping the week ending March 7, at 232,561.

Through the first 12 weeks of 2020, AAR stated that U.S. rail carloads—at 2,773,207—decreased 6.1% compared to the same period a year ago, and intermodal units—at 2,948,362—are off 8.1%.