Cumulative intermodal volume on the nation's freight railroads for the first 33 weeks of 2007 totaled 7,579,383 trailers or containers, off 1.7 percent from the prior year, according to figures compiled by the Association of American Railroads. For the third week in August, intermodal volume totaled 238,270 trailers or containers, down 4.3 percent from the same week a year ago. Weekly container volume was off 2 percent and trailer volume was down 11.9 percent.
The lower trailer volume is partly a reflection of more capacity in the trucking sector, where tonnage also is down for the year. Overall tonnage through July is down 3.7% compared with a year ago, according to the American Trucking Associations. However, tonnage showed a small gain of 0.3 percent in July, the first month-to-month increase since March.
http://www.aar.org