North American Rail Traffic Fell 7.5% in Week Ended Aug. 15

By Colin Kellaher

North American rail traffic fell 7.5% last week amid continued double-digit drops in carloads, data from the Association of American Railroads showed.

Carload volume fell 14% for the week ended Aug. 15 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads, while intermodal traffic slipped 1%, the trade group said Wednesday.

In the week ended Aug. 8, North American rail traffic fell 7.2%. For the first 33 weeks of the year, North American traffic is now down 11.3%, compared with a year-to-date decline of 11.5% reported a week earlier.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic fell 6.9% last week, with a 15.9% slide in carloads more than offsetting a 1.9% rise in the volume of intermodal containers and trailers. Analysts at Citigroup this week said they view a recent strong positive trend in U.S. intermodal volume as a broad positive, given intermodal's macroeconomic sensitivity.

U.S. rail traffic is now down 12.2% for the year to date, the AAR said, compared with a decline of 12.4% reported a week ago.

Canadian rail traffic fell 8.9% last week, amid a 9.6% drop in carloads and an 8.2% decline in intermodal units. Canadian rail traffic is down 8.5% for the first 33 weeks of the year.

Mexican rail traffic was down 10.7% for the week, as carloads fell 7.7% and intermodal units tumbled 14.1%. Mexican rail traffic is down 10.8% for the year, the AAR said.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 19, 2020 12:54 ET (16:54 GMT)

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