Intermodal Volumes
Intermodal volumes started the year off with a slow start, well below 2022 levels and the five-year average to start the year. Containers and trailers were each part of the declines in year-over-year volume, though the trailer decline was much more significant on a percentage basis.
Trailers are holding nearly 14,000 carloads to start the year, roughly in line with where it spent the Christmas and New Year holiday period. It is possible that intermodal is starting the year off slow, similar to what it did in 2022, or it is possible that intermodal volumes remain sluggish.
A slowing import picture and a shift of imports away from west coast ports to east and Gulf coast ports with shorter lengths of haul will be staunch headwinds for intermodal that are expected to last much of the year.
Carload Volumes
Overall carload volumes were 5% above 2022 levels in the first week of the new year, buoyed by strong gains in coal and grain. Coal volumes increased 21% compared with the prior year, and grain was up by 11% over the same period.
Economically sensitive freight, meanwhile, declined by just over 1% in the year’s opening week. The weak start for economically sensitive freight is concerning to start the year against the backdrop of a slowing economy.
Chemicals traffic, which includes hazardous and flammable liquids as well as base chemicals that flow into any number of industrial and manufacturing processes declined 15% on a year-over-year basis. Chemicals traffic has been one of the key supports of carload growth in recent years and the weak start reinforces doubts about its ability to maintain the increases in the new year.
Surface Transportation Board (STB)
With the turning of the calendar to 2023, changes came to the Surface Transportation Board. Board member Karen Hedlund was elevated to vice chair, a position she will hold for a year. The vice chair rotates annually among the four board members who are chair. She takes the baton from Michelle Schultz who held the vice chair post for all of 2022. The elevation is likely to mean little for the overall direction of the agency as all five board members are focused on making the board’s processes more accessible to shippers and increasing the level of rail service.
The board also announced that it is looking for members of the shipper and carrier community to submit nominations for appointment to its Rail Energy Transportation Advisory Committee. The board is seeking three representatives from coal producers; one representative each from an electric utility; bio-fuel feedstock growers or refiners, processors, and distributors; private car owners, car lessors, or car manufacturers; and labor organizations. It is also looking for two representatives from renewable energy companies.
The deadline to submit a nomination is January 26. For information, see the Federal Register notice HERE.
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