North American Rail Traffic Falls 7.7% in Week Ended March 21

By Colin Kellaher

North American rail traffic fell 7.7% last week, as fallout from the coronavirus continued to weigh on volume, data from the Association of American Railroads showed.

Carload volume for the week ended March 21 on 12 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads fell 3.8%, while intermodal traffic tumbled 11.5%, the trade group said Wednesday.

The AAR said reduced demand for vehicles and the suspension of manufacturing operations by most automakers led to large declines in rail carloads of autos and auto parts, while a continued reduction in imports pulled down intermodal volume.

"It wouldn't be surprising to see rail volumes of other categories soften in the weeks ahead as steps taken to limit the spread of Covid-19 continue to impact producers, both here and abroad, particularly those of consumer goods or intermediate products from which those goods are produced," John Gray, AAR senior vice president, said.

In the week ended March 14, North American rail traffic was down 6.4%. For the first 12 weeks of the year, North American traffic declined 5.5%, the AAR reported.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic fell 8.6% last week, with the volume of intermodal containers and trailers down 11.4% and carloads down 5.4%. U.S. rail traffic is down 7.2% for the first 12 weeks of the year.

Canadian rail traffic fell 5.7% last week, as a 14.1% drop in intermodal units more than offset a 1.4% rise in carloads. Canadian rail traffic is down 2.0% for the first 12 weeks of the year.

Mexican rail traffic fell 3.9% for the week, with carloads down 5.9% and intermodal units off 1.3%. Mexican rail traffic is up 3.5% for the first 12 weeks of the year.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 25, 2020 13:54 ET (17:54 GMT)

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