U.S. rail volumes has increased closed to 2% as intermodal traffic pushed volumes higher. The U.S. railroads originated 520,452 carloads and intermodal units for the second week of October, according to the Association of American Railroads. Of that, intermodal traffic rose by 8.4% to 289,488 intermodal containers and trailers.
Some commodities have already posted year-over-year gains. Grain volumes, is one of them, presenting 12% of overall weekly traffic, rose 31% to 27,434 carloads. This increased analyzed from a Year-to-date U.S. volumes are 10% lower than the same period in 2019.
The port of NY/NJ also set a record for intermodal rail volume in August. “At almost 65,000 lifts, the portwide intermodal ExpressRail system handled 7.8% more volume than August 2019, with overall rail volume up 1.4% year-to-date through August 2020,” the port said.
“Port partners are taking proactive steps to add more resources and service hours to support this untraditional peak cargo volume season,” it said. “Daily communications with the port authority, freight railroads and marine terminal operators are ongoing to manage the strong cargo volumes and remain fluid at both the terminal gates and throughout the ExpressRail system. Actions already taken include increased weekend hours and the allocation of more labor to the ExpressRail terminals.”
The port said that it is “committed to working with Class I rail partners, Norfolk Southern and CSX, as well as local operator Conrail to manage the substantial intermodal volumes. Several system-enhancing investments have been identified and are underway.
“This assertive approach will ensure that off-port support infrastructure is scaled to accommodate anticipated cargo growth. For example, the Waverly Loop project is an off-site improvement that will enhance staging capacity and overall network fluidity. This Conrail project, which is estimated for completion in late 2021, will provide an additional 12,000 feet of rail staging capacity,” the port said.
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By: LFS Marketing
October 19, 2020
