Dive Brief:
- December 2017 carloads jumped 2.5% YoY, according to the American Association of Railroads, and total carloads were "up for the first time in six months," said AAR Senior Vice President John T. Gray.
- Containers and trailers were up 5.3% YoY while combined carload, and intermodal originations rose 4%.
- The AAR also found that total combined U.S. rail traffic grew 3.4% in 2017.
Dive Insight:
Despite nebulous November data, December — and the year 2017 — ended strong for the rail industry. According to the data, December 2017 was the strongest December for rail since 2014.
"Rail traffic finished 2017 on a positive note," Gray said in the AAR press release. "Intermodal volume was up for the 11th straight month and set a new annual record, breaking the previous mark set in 2015."
Without counting coal, grain or petroleum (which are more independent of GDP and therefore aren't as reliable for determining the overall health of the economy), carloads were up 5.2% in Q4 2017, which Gray said was "their biggest quarterly percentage gain in more than three years."
Even though November's weaker data was a bit of a "glass half empty, glass half full" kind of tossup, December rebounded so robustly that the industry is very optimistic for 2018.
But a quick look at weekly January data suggests that 2018 may be off to a weaker start than expected: only one week grew in terms of carloads YoY, at 0.5%.
Until the AAR releases the January report data will be inconclusive, but for now it looks like rail freight is still a little unsteady on its feet.
