July U.S. rail carload and intermodal units are mixed, reports AAR

United States rail carload and intermodal volumes, for the month of July, were mixed, according to data issued this week by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Rail carloads—at 906,903—rose 0.2%, or 2,213 carloads, annually. Excluding coal, carloads were down 3,375 carloads, or 0.5% annually, and when excluding coal and grain, carloads were down 4,356 carloads, or 0.8%.

AAR reported that 10 of the 20 carload commodity groups it tracks saw annual gains, including: coal, up 5,588 carloads or 2.2%; crushed stone, sand & gravel, up 5,197 carloads or 6.7%; and motor vehicles & parts, up 3,726 carloads or 8.2%. Commodities that saw annual declines included: primary metal products, down 7,065 carloads or 19.2%; all other carloads, down 3,311 carloads or 15.1%; and stone, clay & glass products, down 2,202 carloads or 6.7%.

And intermodal containers and trailers—at 1,033,906—were down 3%, or 32,094 units, compared to July 2021.

“Rail traffic in July was evenly balanced between commodities with carload gains and those with carload declines,” said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray in a statement. “As such, it does not provide definitive evidence regarding the state of the overall economy. In that respect, it is very similar to most other recent economic indicators."

Through the first seven months of 2022, U.S. rail carload volumes are down 0.1% annually, to 6,900,820, and intermodal units—at 7,912,632—are down 5.8% annually.

For the week ending July 30, U.S. rail carloads saw a 3.6% annual increase, to 237,079, and intermodal units were down 1.9%, to 268,300 units.