Volume on North American railroads improves in April

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported Thursday that US monthly rail traffic showed mixed results in April 2013. Intermodal traffic in April 2013 totaled 962,019 containers and trailers, up 1.6 percent (15,053 units) compared with April 2012. April's weekly average of trailers and containers, 240,505, was the highest for any April in history.
 
Carloads originated in April 2013 totaled 1,108,722, down 0.4 percent (4,640 carloads) compared with the same month last year. Nine of the 20 major commodity categories tracked on a monthly basis by AAR saw year-over-year increases in April 2013 over April 2012. Commodities with the biggest carload increases in April included petroleum and petroleum products; motor vehicles and parts, up 5.9 percent or 3,868 carloads; and coke, up 10.1 percent or 1,359 carloads.
 
Commodities with carload declines last month included metallic ores, down 26.5 percent or 8,605 carloads; primary metal products, down 8.1 percent or 3,583 carloads; and coal, down 0.7 percent or 3,086 carloads. Carloads excluding coal and grain were up 2 percent (11,957 carloads) in April 2013 over April 2012.
 
For the first 17 weeks of 2013, US railroads reported cumulative volume of 4,679,596 carloads, down 2.4 percent from the same point last year, and 4,046,935 intermodal units, up 4.4 percent from last year. Combined North American rail volume for the first 17 weeks of 2013 on 13 reporting US, Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 6,269,706 carloads, down 1 percent compared with the same point last year, and 5,078,173 trailers and containers, up 4.2 percent compared with last year.