Rail Roundup: Greenbrier hits 5,500 Q4 railcar orders; US rail traffic dips

Company’s numbers hint at market confidence

Railcars manufactured by Greenbrier. (Photo: Greenbrier)

Greenbrier’s Q4 railcar orders total 5,500

Railcar manufacturer Greenbrier has received orders worth over $530 million for 5,500 railcars.

The Lake Oswego, Oregon-headquartered company said the orders are for a broad range of railcar types, including intermodal, boxcars, tanks, covered hoppers and gondolas, from a diverse mix of customers.

The orders occurred during Greenbrier’s (NYSE: GBX) fiscal fourth quarter that started on June 1. The orders also increase Greenbrier’s backlog and provide “further visibility entering fiscal 2022,” which starts next Wednesday. 

“Greenbrier continues to see momentum in our markets as we navigate the economic recovery and COVID variants. Our commercial and leasing teams have performed exceptionally in this environment,” Chairman and CEO Bill Furman said in a release. “Greenbrier’s proven ability to adjust production capacity in response to growing demand positions us to actively secure new orders, strengthening our backlog. We expect this order trend to continue into fiscal 2022.”

US weekly rail traffic dips on intermodal volume decline

U.S. rail volumes for the week ending last Saturday slipped 2.6% amid a 5.1% decline in intermodal traffic.

Traffic totaled 501,273 carloads and intermodal units, according to data from the Association of American Railroads.

Of that, carloads totaled 230,754, rising 0.4% from the same week in 2020, while intermodal volume fell 5.1% to 270,519 containers and trailers.

On a year-to-date basis, U.S. rail volumes are up 8.6% year-over-year, at 7.6 million carloads and intermodal units. 

U.S. carloads (in blue: RTOTC.USA), intermodal containers (in orange: RTOIC.CLASSI) and intermodal trailers (in green: RTOIT.CLASSI) graphed on a relative basis over the past year. (FreightWaves SONAR) To learn more about FreightWaves SONAR, click here.

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Joanna Marsh

Joanna is a Washington, DC-based writer covering the freight railroad industry. She has worked for Argus Media as a contributing reporter for Argus Rail Business and as a market reporter for Argus Coal Daily.