United States rail carload and intermodal volumes saw annual declines for the week ending July 6, according to data issued by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).
Rail carloads––at 220,759––fell 8.2%, trailing the week ending June 29 at 261,415 and the week ending June 22 at 257,836. It is likely rail volumes for the week ending July 6 were impacted by the July 4 holiday.
AAR said that three of the ten carload commodity it tracks saw annual gains, including: grain, up 2,358 carloads, to 23,651; petroleum and petroleum products, up 2,083 carloads, to 12,347; and miscellaneous carloads, up 517 carloads, to 8,520. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2018 included coal, down 16,575 carloads, to 59,905; nonmetallic minerals, down 3,593 carloads, to 31,655; and metallic ores and metals, down 1,510 carloads, to 20,578.
Intermodal containers and trailers––at 227,700––were off 6.9% annually, trailing the weeks ending June 29 and June 22 at 271,749 and 267,280, respectively.
Through the first 27 weeks of 2019, U.S. rail carloads––at 6,772,977––are down 3.1% annually, and intermodal units––at 7,151,961––are down 3.3%.