U.S. Railroads’ intermodal volume down in May

…while carloads are up. Via Progressive Railroading:

“Coal, chemicals, and grain together accounted for nearly 60 percent of U.S. rail carloads in May, and all three showed carload increases over last year,” said AAR Senior Vice President John Gray in a prepared statement.

However, the railroads’ intermodal volume totaling 901,380 units declined 0.9 percent year over year.

Not much of a surprise, really, with the decline of imports into the West Coast which is where the majority of the railroads intermodal volume comes from. The Port of Los Angeles in 2007 saw the first calendar year decline in container totals (8.4 vs. 8.5 million in 2006) in more than 10 years. To date this year the Port of Los Angeles is down 7.36% compared to 2007. For the month of April inbound container moves are down a whopping 10.93%. The Port of Long Beach saw April inbound container volumes drop by 7.5% and is down 4.8% for their fiscal year.

So why only a small 0.9% drop in intermodal volume with the railroads? The red-hot export market, where exporters located away from the water-based ports must still get their containers to places like Los Angeles/Long Beach and New York.

Hat tip to World Trade Magazine.