WASHINGTON — U.S. rail traffic managed a slight gain over 2020 figures in the latest weekly statistics from the Association of American Railroads, while experiencing a notable decline over the previous week’s figures.
After a long period where 2021 statistics were well ahead of the corresponding figures for 2020, the week ending July 10 found railroads moved 451,825 carloads and intermodal units, just a 0.6% increase over the same week in 2020. That includes 241,528 trailers and containers, a 2.4% decline in intermodal traffic over the same period a week earlier. Some railroads have been placing limits on intermodal service to address congestion at terminals resulting from a shortage of manpower and trailers.
The total volume represented an 11.9% decline over the 512,919 carloads and intermodal units moved in the week ending July 3, 2021. Year-to-date totals, for the first 27 weeks of 2021, show carloads up 9.3%, intermodal up 16.8%, and total volume up 13.3%
In Canada, where fires have disrupted western traffic most notably to and from the Port of Vancouver, British Columbia, railroads reported 64,203 carloasd for the week, down 6.2% from 2020, and 51,892 intermodal unites, down 20.9%. Those figures also represent declines of 11.6% and 19%, respectively, over the previous week in 2021.
