Intermodal volumes continued an autumnal decline as railfreight on U.S. carriers headed lower in the latest week’s data from the Association of American Railroads.
For the week ending Nov. 1, rail traffic was 496,928 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.9% from the same week a year ago.
All other freight came to 227,209 carloads, down 0.7%, while 269,719 containers and trailers was 6.4% weaker y/y.
Grain shipments led just four commodity gainers for the week, up 6.4% to 25,171 carloads, which parallel recent China soybean orders following trade meetings with the U.S. Increases were also seen in metallic ores and metals, 5.5%, to 21,151 carloads.
Commodity declines came in coal, 3.3%, to 55,508 carloads, and motor vehicles and parts, 10.1%, to 14,917 carloads and forest products 5.7%, to 7,778 carloads as economic uncertainty shadows consumer spending and the housing market.
For the first 44 weeks of this year, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 9,780,010 carloads, up 1.9% y/y, and 11,942,436 intermodal units, a gain of 2.8%. Total combined U.S. traffic year-to-date was 21,722,446 carloads and intermodal units, an increase of 2.4%. The strength of intermodal comes as tariff-raked imports have given way to building domestic traffic.
North American rail volume for the week on 9 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 333,804 carloads, down 1.9% from the year-ago week, and 354,860 intermodal units, a decrease of 4.2%. Total combined weekly traffic in North America was 688,664 carloads and intermodal units, down 3.1%. North American volume through the first 44 weeks of 2025 was 29,913,818 carloads and intermodal units, better by 2% when compared with 2024.
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Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.
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