North American Rail Traffic Fell 4.3% in Week Ended Aug. 3

By Colin Kellaher

North American rail traffic fell 4.3% last week, wrapping up another month of declines at U.S. railroads, data from the Association of American Railroads showed.

Carload volume for the week ended Aug. 3 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads fell 4.5%, while intermodal traffic fell 4.1%, the trade group said Wednesday.

North American rail traffic was 3.1% lower in the week ended July 20. For the first 31 weeks of the year, North American volume is down 2.3%.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic tumbled 5.2% last week after falling 4.4% a week earlier. U.S. carloads fell 4.9% amid declines in eight of the 10 commodity groups tracked. The volume of U.S. intermodal containers and trailers fell 5.5% for the week.

For the month of July, U.S. rail traffic fell 5.5%, as carloads of coal, the largest commodity group tracked, tumbled 10.3%.

"Rail traffic in July, as in many other recent months, was held back by declines in three of the largest rail traffic segments, coal, grain, and intermodal," said John Gray, AAR senior vice president of policy and economics. "Despite a summer heat wave of historical proportions, very low prices for natural gas have seriously weakened the seasonal demand for coal-generated electrical power."

The group said uncertainty surrounding foreign trade has weighed on railroads' intermodal operations, which are heavily dependent on overseas business.

U.S. rail traffic is now down 3.5% for the year to date, the AAR said, compared with a year-to-date decline of 3.4% reported last week.

The AAR said rail traffic slipped 0.6% in Canada last week, as a 3.6% drop in carloads more than offset a 2.9% rise in intermodal units.

Rail traffic slid 7% in Mexico last week, the AAR said, with carloads down 3.8% and intermodal units tumbling 10.4%.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 07, 2019 13:06 ET (17:06 GMT)

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