U.S. rail carload and intermodal volumes see annual gains in July, reports AAR

United States July rail carload and intermodal volumes saw annual gains, according to data issued this week by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Rail carloads—at 904,670—increased 65.6%, or 55,969 carloads, annually, in July. When excluding coal, carloads were up 24,350 carloads, or 3.9% annually and when excluding coal and grain, carloads were up 30,462 carloads, or 5.6%.

And AAR said that 10 of the 20 carload commodity categories tracked by the AAR saw annual gains, including: coal, up 31,619 carloads or 14.1%; metallic ores, up 14,151 carloads or 137.8%; and primary metal products, up 9,802 carloads or 36.4%. Commodities that saw declines in July 2021 from July 2020 included: motor vehicles & parts, down 12,309 carloads or 21.3%; grain, down 6,112 carloads or 7.3%; and grain mill products, down 1,862 carloads or 5%.

Intermodal containers and trailers—at 1,970,839—saw a 3.8%, or 71,419 units—annual increase.

“U.S. rail traffic in July 2021 was up over July 2020, but the percentage increase was significantly lower than in other recent months, both because of more difficult comparisons and because various external factors have led to a recent deceleration in rail volumes,” said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray in a statement. “For example, grain exports are down sharply, taking rail carloads of grain down with them; automakers are still hampered by semiconductor shortages, leading to sharply lower rail auto volumes; and worldwide supply chain slowdowns are impacting both rail customers and railroads themselves. While all of these should be manageable, temporary setbacks, their convergence has resulted in weaker rail volumes than basic domestic economic factors might otherwise imply.”

Through the first seven months of 2021, AAR reported that total U.S. carload traffic for the first seven months of 2021 was 6,907,195 carloads, up 9.1%, or 573,549 carloads, annually; and 8,398,236 intermodal units, up 15.2%, or 1,109,282 containers and trailers, for the same period.

For the week ending July 31, U.S. rail carloads—at 228,975—headed up 5.2% annually, and intermodal units—at 273,565—rose 1.2%.