IANA: International box moves down, domestic up
The U.S. intermodal industry saw international container shipments declined 5.2 percent in the first three months of 2008 — the largest quarterly decline in international activity in nine years.
About 1.9 million ISO containers were transported in the first quarter, according to the Intermodal Association of America.
IANA said domestic container volumes rose 5 percent to 892,417, while trailer volumes fell 3.5 percent to 512,595.
“Once the current bout of economic weakness passes, imports should again set a healthy pace, renewing their contribution to broader intermodal advances,” said Tom Malloy, IANA’s vice president of member services and business development. “Gains in domestic freight are encouraging. If the industry can hold those gains as imports rebound, the table will be set for even more growth in the future.”
IANA said first quarter results suggest that intermodal marketing companies, or IMCs, were able to prosper in a difficult market, as total IMC revenue for reporting companies rose 9.8 percent, to more than $982 million in the first three months of 2008.