Intermodal closer to 2008 pre-recession levels

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported that monthly rail carloads for May 2010 were up 15.8 percent compared with last year, but still down 11.8 percent compared with May 2008. According to AAR’s June Rail Time Indicators Report, intermodal traffic was up 18.9 percent last month compared with May 2009, and down 3.8 percent compared with May 2008. Seasonally adjusted data, which helps to measure month-to-month progress, showed carloads in May were down 1.1 percent from April 2010, while intermodal traffic was up 2.8 percent from April 2010.

"May’s rail traffic numbers continue to show mixed results,” said AAR Senior Vice President John Gray. “Intermodal traffic has now risen for three straight months, but carloads in May 2010 were actually down a bit from April 2010. Several economic indicators this month, including unemployment, reinforce the fact that the economy still has a long way to go to full recovery.”

The report notes that while the U.S. unemployment rate fell slightly in May to 9.7 percent from 9.9 percent in April, railroads hired 1,783 employees in April, the most recent month for railroad hiring data. The number of rail cars brought out of storage slowed for the first time in several months, with railroads putting just 747 cars back into service in May.

Of the 19 major commodity categories tracked by AAR, 18 posted gains compared with the same month last year. Coal, the single highest volume commodity carried by railroads, showed a notable increase last month, up 6.8 percent compared with 2009.

“Coal exports in the first quarter of 2010 are up 31 percent over the first quarter of 2009,” added Gray. “That coupled with decreasing coal stockpiles has fueled notable increases this month in coal traffic. However, even after these gains, coal volumes are still significantly below where they were in 2008.”
(Source:www.transportweekly.com)