U.S. rail carload and intermodal volumes see annual declines in June, reports AAR

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

Rail carloads—at 794,256—saw an annual decline of 22.4%, or 228,975 carloads, in June. The AAR said that two of the 20 carload commodity groups it tracks saw annual gains, with all other carloads, up 585 carloads or 2.4 percent; and farm products excl. grain, up 326 carloads or 11.1 percent. Commodities that saw declines in June 2020 from June 2019 were coal, down 104,576 carloads or 34.1 percent; crushed stone, sand & gravel, down 26,659 carloads or 27.1 percent; and motor vehicles & parts, down 20,500 carloads or 30.3 percent.

When excluding coal, U.S. carloads were down 124,399 carloads, or 17.4%, and when excluding coal and grain, U.S. carloads were off 120,284 carloads, or 19.1%.

Intermodal containers and trailers—at 1,004,933—fell 6.6%, or 70,944 units.

“June was a month in which the slow recovery process that began in early May, began to accelerate,” said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray in a statement. “By the end of June, freight loadings had improved by about 60,000 carload and intermodal units weekly over where they had been in late April. After recording record lows in early May, coal finally stabilized at about 50,000 carloads per week by the end of June. Additionally, the reopening of automotive plants that began in early June has regrown that business from as little as 2,000 weekly loads to over 13,000 by the end of the month. This also contributed to stabilization for loadings of products that support auto production such as metals, glass and plastics. However, leading the way upward was the intermodal business, which, over the last two months, grew to match volumes last seen around the first of February. While all of these results are encouraging they will be much more robust if the current trend continues in the weeks following the July 4th holiday.”

For the week ending June 27, U.S. carloads were down 22.9% annually, to 201,502, and intermodal units were down 5.1%, to 257,947.