Total U.S. weekly rail traffic down 9.2%

Railway Age reports:

For the week ending May 14, 2016, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 498,379 carloads and intermodal units, down 9.2% compared with the same week last year, according to the Association of American Railroads.

Total carloads for the week ending May 14 were 238,353 carloads, down 11.4% compared with the same week in 2015, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 260,026 containers and trailers, down 7.2% compared to 2015.

Four of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2015. They included miscellaneous carloads, up 11.8% to 9,646 carloads; metallic ores and metals, up 5.5% to 23,881 carloads; and nonmetallic minerals, up 4.8% to 35,702 carloads. Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2015 included coal, down 30.8% to 64,800 carloads; petroleum and petroleum products, down 19% to 11,727 carloads; and grain, down 8.5% to 18,373 carloads.

For the first 19 weeks of 2016, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 4,559,020 carloads, down 14.2% from the same point last year; and 4,888,034 intermodal units, down 1.4% from last year. Total combined U.S. traffic for the first 19 weeks of 2016 was 9,447,054 carloads and intermodal units, a decrease of 8% compared to last year.

A trend you should be monitoring.