U.S. rail carload and intermodal volumes see annual gains in April, reports AAR

United States rail carload and intermodal volumes, for the month of April, each saw significant annual gains compared to a difficult pandemic-influenced April 2020, according to data issued this week by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Rail carloads—at 951,840—headed up 23.7%, or 182,060 units. AAR said that 17 of the 20 carload commodity categories it tracks saw annual gains, including: coal, up 55,929 carloads or 28.7 percent; motor vehicles & parts, up 38,891 carloads or 465.9 percent; and chemicals, up 17,201 carloads or 14.8 percent. Commodities that saw declines in April 2021 from April 2020 included: crushed stone, sand & gravel, down 823 carloads or 1 percent; primary forest products, down 124 carloads or 2.9 percent; and farm products excl. grain, down 74 carloads or 1.9 percent.

AAR said that when excluding coal, carloads were up 126,131 carloads, or 21.9%, in April 2021 from April 2020. And, excluding coal and grain, carloads were up 109,124 carloads, or 22.4%.

Intermodal containers and trailers—at 1,173,952—increased 33.8%, or 296,758 units, annually, in April.

“A number of U.S. rail traffic categories have completely recovered ground lost during the pandemic or are very close to doing so,” said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray, in a statement. “For example, April set a new all-time record for intermodal, driven by surging international trade and strong consumer spending. Meanwhile, carloads of grain, food, lumber, paper, scrap metal and several other categories were higher in April 2021 than they were in both April 2020 and in April 2019. Carloads of chemicals and steel in April 2021 were much higher than last year and just shy of April 2019 levels.”

On a year-to-date basis through April, AAR reported that U.S. rail carloads—at 3,862,937—was up 2.8%, or 104,793 carloads, and intermodal units, at 4,793,498, are up 17.6%, or 718,271 units, annually.

For the week ending May 1, total U.S. carloads—at 240,858—are up 27.2% annually, and intermodal volume—at 299,809 containers and trailers—was up 31.6% annually.