North American Rail Traffic Rose 3.7% in Week Ended July 31
August 04 2021 - 12:50PM
Dow Jones News
By Colin Kellaher
North American rail traffic rose 3.7% last week, as supply-chain
issues have slowed the rate of recent gains, data from the
Association of American Railroads showed.
Carload volume rose 5.8% for the week ended July 31 on 12
reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads, while intermodal
traffic rose 1.9%, the trade group said Wednesday.
In the week ended July 24, North American rail traffic rose
4.6%. For the first 30 weeks of the year, North American rail
traffic is up 10.9%.
The AAR said U.S. rail traffic rose 3% last week, as carloads
rose 5.2% and the volume of intermodal containers and trailers
edged up 1.2%. U.S. rail traffic is up 12.4% for the first 30 weeks
of the year.
The trade group said a recent deceleration in U.S. rail volumes
reflects several factors, including a sharp drop in grain exports,
taking rail carloads of grain down with them, and the semiconductor
shortage that is hampering automakers, leading to sharply lower
rail auto volumes. The AAR also noted that 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," said John Gray,
AAR senior vice president.
Canadian rail traffic rose 3.5% last week, as carloads rose 4.1%
and intermodal units rose 2.9%. Canadian rail traffic is up 7.3%
for the first 30 weeks of the year.
Mexican rail traffic leapt 15.5% last week amid a 20.3% surge in
carloads and a 9.9% rise in intermodal units. Mexican rail traffic
is up 6.7% for the year to date, the AAR said.
Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 04, 2021 12:44 ET (16:44 GMT)
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