United States rail carload and intermodal volumes saw annual declines for the week ending August 10, according to data issued this week by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
Rail carloads, at 261,194, were off 3.9% annually, trailing the weeks ending August 3 and July 27, at 266,439 and 261,706, respectively.
AAR said that three of the ten carload commodity groups it tracks saw annual gains, including: nonmetallic minerals, up 3,624 carloads, to 41,976; petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,543 carloads, to 13,424; and miscellaneous carloads, up 754 carloads, to 10,195. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2018 included coal, down 13,332 carloads, to 77,300; metallic ores and metals, down 1,483 carloads, to 22,347; and forest products, down 577 carloads, to 10,020.
Intermodal containers and trailers, at 271,996, slipped 4.6% annually, trailing the weeks ending August 3 and July 27, at 275,119 and 272,792, respectively.
Through the first 32 weeks of 2019, U.S. rail carloads are down 3.2%, to 8,077,512, and intermodal units, at 8,510,590, are off 3.7%.