The Association of American Railroads has released data for the week ending March 26, and the recent trends have continued in place, unfortunately. While freight rail carloads were up slightly at .5% compared to the same week last year, intermodal traffic continues to perform poorly, for unexplained reasons in our view. Why is intermodal traffic down 6.2%, even more than the prior week? The only logical explanation is there are fewer containers to transport, which seems inexplicable given the reports of full ships waiting offshore for unloading. And the reports are no different for Canadian or Mexican railroads.
The one bright spot for the week appears to motor vehicles and parts, which actually showed an increase over last year, for a refreshing change.
We will report again next week.