North American Rail Traffic Fell 7.6% in Week Ended Dec. 7

By Colin Kellaher

North American rail traffic fell 7.6% last week, data from the Association of American Railroads showed.

Carload volume for the week ended Dec. 7 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads fell 4.6%, while intermodal traffic tumbled 10.4%, the trade group said.

North American rail traffic was down 20% in the week ended Nov. 30. For the first 49 weeks of the year, North American volume is now down 3.7%, compared with a year-to-date drop of 3.6% reported a week earlier.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic fell 9.4% last week following a holiday-related drop of 23% a week earlier. U.S. carloads fell 7.2% amid an 18.5% drop in shipments of coal, the largest of the 10 commodity groups tracked. The volume of U.S. intermodal containers and trailers slid 11.3% for the week.

U.S. rail traffic is now down 4.8% for the year to date, the AAR said, compared with a year-to-date decline of 4.7% reported a week earlier.

The AAR said Canadian rail traffic fell 1.4% last week, as an 8% decline in intermodal units more than offset a 4.4% rise in carloads.

Mexican rail traffic fell 6% last week amid a 7% drop in carloads and a 4.9% decline in intermodal units.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 12, 2019 12:50 ET (17:50 GMT)

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