WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic in June was down 3.2% from 2021 levels, providing mixed indicators about the state of the nation’s economy, according to the Association of American Railroads.
The June figure included a 1.5% decline in carload traffic and a 4.6% drop in intermodal units.
“As conjecture grows about the direction of the U.S. economy, June rail traffic doesn’t offer definitive answers on whether a recession is looming or not,” AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray said in a press release. “Like many other economic indicators today, rail traffic is a mix of red, yellow, and green, with some traffic lines, such as automotive, providing generally positive indicators while others, such as chemicals, being a bit more subdued than they were earlier in the year.”
Year-to-date totals show carload traffic down 0.1% from the first six months of 2021, while intermodal traffic is down 6.2%, with total traffic through 26 weeks showing a 3.5% decline.
Weekly figures also down
U.S. traffic figures for the week ending July 2 include 234,561 carloads, a 1% decline from the corresponding week in 2021, and 265,724 containers and trailers, now 3.7%. The total of 500,285 carloads and intermodal units represents a 2.5% decline. Six of the 10 carload commodity groups tracked by the AAR showed declines.
North American totals for the week, from 12 U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads, include 330,619 carloads, down 0.4% from the same week a year earlier; 350,823 intermodal units, down 1.5%, and a total of 681,442 carloads and intermodal units, down 0.9%.
I didn’t see your “boy” Trump doing anything about banning oil exports & it will never happen either the oil co & the repubs they own will never let that happen it would also set off a chain reaction of other oil producing countrys to do the same throwing the whole market into chaos. You would blame a cloudy day on Biden or any Dem, but if your “boy” was in there high oil prices would be the least of our concerns we’d be in the middle of our own “Ukraine” only ours would be a civil war, because sick men like he enjoy chaos & mayhem!
The oil companies have plenty of leases they haven’t even tapped. The ND oil producers stated they are not returning to previous production levels because they lost so much money when they had to shut them down during Covid & now they are making up for it. Oil is priced on world market Europeans are paying over $10 dollars a gal. Is that Biden’s fault too? Would you be blaming Trump if that sociopath was still in office? The war in the Ukraine is also effecting world oil prices plus Americans are back to joy riding & road tripping, plus the writing is on the wall for internal combustion engine. That’s Capitalism! It’s a bitch when your on the losing end of it!!
Galen – The United States was and could be again energy independent. I don’t care what the global price is as there were laws regulating if not all out banning the export of oil. You have all the rights afforded to all residents and citizens of this country allowing you to live in the fantasy world that Biden is somehow not entirely at fault for increased price of fuel and everything else.
The price of oil and gasoline steadily rose over the course of last year and into 2022 when the war in Ukraine started, and have continued to rise since then until about three weeks ago. Demand has been, and still is, continuing to increase faster than supply as the economy has recovered faster than “the experts” anticipated from the artificial recession induced by the pandemic. Throw in (1) a bout of inflation largely stemming from the unnecessary American Recovery Act last March, (2) the current administration’s regulations prohibiting, restricting, and delaying drilling on existing leases and applying for permits (after circumnavigating through the EIR/EIS process) to transport the crude oil via pipeline to existing pipelines, and/or rail terminals; and (3) changes in bank lending policies limiting loan amounts for upstream petroleum projects (threats from the banking regulators?).
These results are not “mixed signals” in my opinion. The Commander in Thief is too (fill in the blank Charles) to allow this country to return to the energy independence enjoyed less than 2 years ago. I see a recession on the horizon. Am I alone?