Rail/Intermodal
Not surprisingly, rail carload and intermodal traffic fell sharply week over week during Thanksgiving week. The lone outlier was pulp and paper, which rose 3.7%.
More significant were the y/y comparisons since that metric assesses volume in two holiday-impacted periods. Total carload volume declined 2.7% y/y while economically sensitive freight was slightly weaker at down 3.3% y/y.
Some categories that were down notably y/y include farm products, coke, grain, and non-metallic minerals. Categories that posted notable gains y/y include metal scrap, metals and metal products, petroleum products, and motor vehicles and equipment.
While carload’s performance was a bit worse than last year’s Thanksgiving week, intermodal performed better than a year ago. Week over week, intermodal volume was down almost as sharply as carload, but year over year, intermodal traffic was up about 6%. After lagging comparable 2022 levels considerably all year, intermodal has performed at least as well as the same 2022 weeks since Labor Day week.
Intermodal trailer traffic fell more sharply week over week than container traffic, and trailer weakness was a drag on overall intermodal volume y/y. Intermodal container volume was up more than 7% y/y, but intermodal trailer volume was down nearly 20%.
