WASHINGTON — With intermodal traffic continuing to plummet, U.S. rail volume once again fell by the largest amount so far this year compared to the same week in 2022.
Statistics from the Association of American Railroads for the week ending March 18 show overall traffic was 453,500 carloads and intermodal units, a 9.4% decrease from the same week a year earlier. That included 226,046 containers and trailers, down 15.2% percent, and 227,454 carloads, down 2.7%.
Traffic has been lower than 2022 levels every week so far in 2023. This week’s drop surpassed the previous largest decline, last week’s figure of 7.6% [see “U.S. rail traffic slump continues,” Trains News Wire, March 16, 2023]. Not surprisingly, the year-to-date total through 11 weeks of 2023 shows overall traffic down 5.2%, with carloads down 0.3%, intermodal traffic down 9.6%, and a weekly average of 461,788 carloads and intermodal units.
North American totals, for 12 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads, are not quite as bad in each category: carloads are flat at 328,408; intermodal units are down 13.5% at 300,200; and combined traffic is off 6.9% at 628,608 carloads and intermodal units. Overall North American traffic is down by 3.3% through 11 weeks of 2023.
Downhill run since peak traffic in 2008 or whenever it was. Consolidation, bankruptcies, and abandonment will follow if this trend continues.