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

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

Rail carloads—at 905,744—were down 1.6%, or 15,101 units—compared to February 2021. And eight of the 20 carload commodity categories tracked by the AAR saw annual gains, including: crushed stone, sand & gravel, up 8,821 carloads or 13.1 percent; petroleum & petroleum products, up 5,833 carloads or 15.8 percent; and motor vehicles & parts, up 4,389 carloads or 8.9%. Commodities seeing annual declines included: coal, down 16,648 carloads or 6.1%; grain, down 9,227 carloads or 9.7%; and chemicals, down 6,298 carloads or 4.6%.

Intermodal containers and trailers—at 943,979—were off 8.4%, or 86,351 units, annually. Combined U.S. rail carload and intermodal volumes, for the month of February, came in at 1,849,723, saw a 5.2%, or 101,452 carloads and intermodal units, annual decrease.

“Coal, chemicals, and grain together account for more than half of all non-intermodal U.S. rail volume. When all three are down like they were in February, it’s very hard for total carloads not to be down too,” said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray. “On the positive side, several commodities including crushed stone and sand, petroleum products, steel products, grain mill and food products showed very strong performances.”

For the week ending February 25, U.S. rail carloads—at 226,435—eked out a 0.1% annual increase, and intermodal units—at 232,798—dropped 11.1%, for the same period.