Due to varying market conditions, including growth in domestic container volume and a decline in import traffic, intermodal volume totals for the fourth quarter of 2007 and the full year were down, according to the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA). Intermodal volume in the fourth-quarter was helped by a 2.7 percent rise in domestic traffic, which was achieved at a time when the U.S. economy was slumping.

Total fourth-quarter volume was 3,521,945, or 1.6 percent below the same quarter of 2006 as a result of a 4.7 percent decline in international traffic that was linked to slowing imports. The Intermodal Market Trends & Statistics report published by the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) showed that fourth-quarter domestic container volume rose 9.5 percent, a performance that resulted in a full-year 2007 increase in domestic traffic to 5,743,472 units.

The volume increase reflected a solid performance by Intermodal Marketing Companies (IMCs), whose loads rose 3.7 percent. The increases resulted in improved volume, revenue and revenue per load in every IMC category during 2007, the first increase in all of those categories since 2000.

"The growth in domestic intermodal was very encouraging at a time when other freight traffic volume has been struggling," said Tom Malloy, vice president of member services and business development for IANA. "That growth affirms the continuing value of intermodal service and sets the stage for a return to international volume increases when import traffic rebounds."
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