The Intermodal Association of North America reported that total intermodal loadings fell 4.6 in the third quarter of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015.
Total intermodal traffic fell 4.6 percent to 4.35 million trailers and containers in the third quarter of 2016 compared to the same period a year ago, according to the Intermodal Association of North America’s (IANA) latest quarterly Intermodal Market Trends and Statistics report.
Contributing to the loss were intermodal trailer volumes, which dropped 26.9 percent to 295,933 units, and international shipments, which fell 6.7 percent to 2.2 million units.
The domestic container business experienced a 3.3 percent gain to 1.87 million units.
North American intermodal volumes dropped 6.1 percent in the second quarter on a year-over-year basis.
“The Q3 results were in line with the previous quarter, reflecting sluggish market conditions,” IANA President Joni Casey said in a statement. “Projections for 2017 are more optimistic, based on continued increases in consumer spending and expectations that the international side of the equation will stabilize.”
The report said the plunge in trailer volumes was the decision by motor carrier Triple Crown in late 2015 to restructure its Roadrailer product, which puts trailers on rail bogies for haulage by trains rather than lifting them on rail cars. In 2015, roughly 18 percent of trailer volumes were actually Roadrailer shipments and that share had been even larger in previous years.
Trailer volumes on rail is off by more than 20 percent year-to-date due to low fuel prices and loose trucking capacity, but the bulk of the decline in trailers is due to the discontinuation of Roadrailers, according to IANA.
The trade association said the decline in international volumes is more difficult to explain. International intermodal shipments tend to move with container import growth. However, over the past two quarters, a sizeable gap has opened up between the growth of container imports and international traffic.
In the second quarter, total North American container imports lost 0.1 percent versus the 2015 volumes, while international fell by 9.3 percent. Total container import numbers are not yet available for the third quarter, but data so far suggests that total container imports gained about 1 percent in the quarter, while international shipments fell by 6.7 percent.
IANA did not have an explanation for the discrepancy, but said it seems the weakness in international (16 percent drop in loadings) is centered in the Southwest. The decline in loadings also led to a 12 percent drop in shipments destined for the region, possibly because fewer boxes needed to be returned.
Volumes to or from the Southwest region represent nearly half of all international movements.
The seven highest-density trade corridors, accounting for 63.6 percent of total intermodal volumes, collectively dropped 3.9 percent year-over-year. The Midwest-Northwest corridor saw a 3.0 percent gain in traffic, dominated by containers. All other corridors posted declines. These ranged from only 0.8 percent in the cases of both the Northeast-Midwest and Trans-Canada lanes, to 11.2 percent in the South Central-Southwest corridor. Midwest-Southwest volumes, which are the highest, shrank by 5.3 percent.
Intermodal Marketing Companies (IMCs) again made gains in the highway market sector. Thanks to excess trucking capacity, highway volumes were up 14.6 percent from the previous year. Intermodal loads fell 11.6 percent. The net result for reporting IMCs was a total volumes decrease of 0.1 percent.
Intermodal volumes continue decline in Q3
