WASHINGTON — U.S. freight volume for the week ending June 26 remained well ahead of figures for the same week a year earlier, while also showing a small uptick from previous-week figures.
Statistics from the Association of American Railroads show that U.S. railroads moved 516,167 carloads and intermodal units for the week, a 12.4% increase over the same period in 2020 and a modest increase over the 514,112 carloads and units of a week earlier [see “U.S. rail traffic continues to outpace 2020 figures,” Trains News Wire, June 24, 2021].
The latest figures include 237,117 carloads, a 17.7% increase over 2020, and 279,050 intermodal trailers and containers, an 8.2% increase. The carload traffic shows increases over the 2020 figures in nine of 10 commodity categories, the lone exception being motor vehicles and parts, where production continues to be constrained by a computer-chip shortage.
For the 25 weeks so far in 2021, total traffic is up 13.6% over the year-to-date figures for 2020, with intermodal traffic up 17.7% and carloads up 8.9%.
North American totals for the week, reflecting reports from 12 railroads in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, show 335,765 carloads, up 14.4% over the same week in 2020, and 367,561 intermodal units, up 8.8%, for total volume of 703,326 carloads and intermodal units, an 11.4% increase.
