By Colin Kellaher

 

North American rail traffic plunged 20.1% last week, as an economic freeze in large chunks of the economy sparked by the coronavirus pandemic led to reduced demand for freight services, data from the Association of American Railroads showed.

Carload volume for the week ended April 11 on a dozen reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads slid 21.6%, while intermodal traffic tumbled 18.6%, the trade group said Wednesday. Carloads for the week were lower in nine of the 10 commodity groups tracked, with only loads of grain eking out a gain of 1.2%.

"The pandemic is affecting firms in every industry, and railroads are no exception," said John Gray, AAR senior vice president. "When rail customers suffer a drop in demand for their products, their need for transportation services declines as well, and that negatively impacts rail volumes."

In the week ended April 4, North American rail traffic was down 16.1%. For the first 15 weeks of the year, North American traffic is now down 7.7%, compared with a year-to-date drop of 6.7% reported a week earlier.

The AAR said U.S. rail traffic fell 21.9% last week, with carloads dropping 23.8% and the volume of intermodal containers and trailers down 20%.

U.S. rail traffic is now down 9.1% for the year to date, the AAR said, compared with a year-to-date decline of 8.1% reported a week earlier.

Canadian rail traffic fell 12.2% last week amid a 13.6% drop in carloads and a 10.6% decline in intermodal units. Canadian rail traffic is down 4.3% for the first 15 weeks of the year.

Mexican rail traffic plummeted 28.5% for the week, as carloads fell 26% and intermodal units plunged 31.7%. Mexican rail traffic, which began the year on a strong note, has now turned negative for the year, with a drop of 1.7%, the AAR said.

 

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

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 15, 2020 13:14 ET (17:14 GMT)

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