Intermodal rates continue falling in February

Rates fell another 3.8 percent for the month compared to February of last year, the 14th consecutive month prices have decreased, according to the latest Cass Intermodal Price Index.    Intermodal rates fell another 3.8 percent in February 2016 compared to last year, according to the latest Cass Intermodal Price Index, which measures all-in per-mile costs.
   Cass Information Systems Inc., a transportation intelligence analyst, said year-over-year rates were down for the 14th consecutive month. Intermodal rates dropped 2.2 percent year-over-year in January, 3.8 percent in December 2015, and 2.4 percent in November.
   The continued decline in rates is a record for the index, which was created in 2005. The previous record decline was set in the 13 months from Dec 2008 through Dec 2009.
   Investment firm Avondale Partners reiterated its expectations for further declines in intermodal rates for the remainder of 2016 “as the dramatic drop in diesel prices…takes its toll on U.S. domestic demand.”
   Although analysts at Avondale predict domestic container growth in the single digits in 2016, they “believe that is dependent upon demand in longer lengths of haul growing fast enough to offset the loss of volume in shorter lengths of haul, particularly in the East.”