Intermodal volumes, for the month of May, remained hampered by the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data provided to LM by the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA).
Total May volume—at 1,320,963 units—fell 15.6% annually. Trailers—at 86,747—saw a 15.2% annual decline, and domestic containers—at 562,411—were off 12.9%. International, or ISO, containers were down 17.7%, to 671,805.
On a year-to-date basis through May, total intermodal volume—at 6,779,261—is down 10.2% annually. Trailers fell 23.2%, to 415,638, and domestic containers dipped 4.3%, to 2,948,642. ISO containers were down 10.2% annually, to 3,414,981.
Earlier this year, IANA officials noted that COVID-19-related issues have impacted volume for domestic containers and international volume, especially earlier in the year, due to auto plant and other manufacturing shutdowns across North America, coupled with declining imports, which made for a difficult start to the year.
In a previous interview, IANA President and CEO Joni Casey said that the COVID-19 impact on intermodal volume makes it challenging to forecast volumes.
“Additional declines are expected to continue and increase in Q2… while domestic volume could surge back during Q3,” she said. “International volumes may continue to fall for the rest of 2020, reflecting the low demand for imports as well as the impact of tariffs, most of which remain in place.”
IANA added in the report that domestic container loads also are expected to fall between 15% and 20%, as demand is low, fuel prices have fallen drastically, and transloads of imports are expected to decline.
“Overall, total intermodal loadings are forecast to fall about 15% for all of 2020,” IANA said in its Q1 data report. “Yet all those dealing with intermodal should know it is very difficult to confirm where this will go this year.”
Larry Gross, president of Gross Transportation Consulting, recently told LM on a podcast that intermodal has been severely affected by the pandemic.
“We are in what I will call chapter two of the story,” he said. “Intermodal really got affected even before all of the shutdowns began, because of the heavy import/export orientation for intermodal, which accounts for, perhaps, 60% of total intermodal activity, when you include trans loading, as well as the movement of ISO [international] containers. And that was affected even back in March pretty dramatically by the disruptions that were occurring due to the virus in China. We had an extended Lunar New Year holiday shutdown in China, as China was dealing with the initial outbreak of the virus in Wuhan, and that dramatically affected the international cargo that was arriving here. So, now we are into chapter two, in which China has begun to recover, and its production has come back, but it is running smack into a weak demand situation here in the U.S. because of the pandemic. March was, I guess, “the door opener,” in terms of the downturn.”