North American Rail Traffic Fell 7.3% in Week Ended Dec. 28
January 03 2020 - 1:56PM
Dow Jones News
By Colin Kellaher
North American rail traffic fell 7.3% in the week ended Dec. 28,
wrapping up a down year for the industry, data from the Association
of American Railroads showed.
Carload volume for the week on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and
Mexican railroads fell 7%, while intermodal traffic slid 7.6%, the
trade group said Friday.
North American rail traffic was down 8.7% in the week ended Dec.
21. For the 52 weeks ended Dec. 28, North American volume fell 4%,
the AAR said, compared with a year-to-date drop of 3.9% reported a
week earlier.
The AAR said U.S. rail traffic slid 9.2% last week following an
10.5% drop a week earlier. U.S. carloads fell 8.9% amid declines in
all 10 commodity groups tracked. The volume of U.S. intermodal
containers and trailers fell 9.5% for the week.
For the month of December, U.S. rail traffic fell 9.4%, marking
the 11th straight month of declines for both carloads and
intermodal units. U.S. rail traffic was down 5% for the 52 weeks
ended Dec. 28, compared with a year-to-date drop of 4.9% reported a
week earlier, the trade group said.
The AAR said carloads of coal, the largest commodity group
tracked, were down 9.2% in 2019, reaching their lowest level in
decades and falling 45% from their 2006 peak.
"No question, 2019 was a challenging year for rail traffic,
thanks mainly to the macroeconomy and continued years-long changes
in energy markets," said John Gray, AAR senior vice president,
adding that trade disputes and the resulting economic uncertainty
hurt U.S. rail-served industries much more than the overall
economy.
"With recent progress on USMCA and in the China trade talks,
railroads are hopeful that these lingering issues will be resolved
in 2020 and create the certainty rail customers need to invest,"
Mr. Gray said.
The AAR said Canadian rail traffic slipped 1% during the week,
with carloads down 1% and intermodal units off 0.9%. For the 52
weeks ended Dec. 28, Canadian rail traffic edged down 0.4%
Mexican rail traffic fell 7.2% last week, as carloads tumbled
9.4% and intermodal units fell 4.6%. For the 52 weeks ended Dec.
28, Mexican rail traffic fell 2.9%.
Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 03, 2020 13:41 ET (18:41 GMT)
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