IANA: Intermodal traffic turns a corner in Q3

Rail News Home Intermodal 11/3/2020 Rail News: Intermodal
Third-quarter 2020 intermodal volumes rose 1.2% to 4,719,462 units compared with the same period a year ago, according to the Intermodal Association of North America's (IANA) Intermodal Quarterly report. Year over year, international intermodal volume fell 6.5% to 2,290,299 containers, while domestic volume rose 9.8% to 2,103,361 containers. Trailers climbed 9.8% to 325,802 units during the quarter. "Inventory replenishment and increasing e-commerce activity, along with some capacity constraints on the trucking side, have helped intermodal to turn the corner this quarter," said IANA President and Chief Executive Officer Joni Casey in a press release. "This trend is expected to continue, but dependent on the ongoing impacts of COVID-19." The seven highest-density trade corridors, which collectively handled more than 60% of total volume, were collectively up 1.9% in the quarter. Three recorded gains: the Midwest-Southwest and the Northeast-Midwest, both at 6.6%, and the South Central-Southwest, at 4.9%.  The remaining four corridors logged losses: Trans-Canada was down a slight 0.7%; Intra-Southeast declined 1.5%; Southeast-Southwest fell 5.4%; and Midwest-Northwest dropped 13.6%.