The economic slowdown continued to affect U.S. railroads as freight volume declined during the second week of 2009 in comparison with same week last year, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.
Carload freight totaled 267,063 cars, down 17.9 percent from 2008, with loadings down 13.2 percent in the West and 24.4 percent in the East. Intermodal volume of 199,117 trailers or containers was off 13.7 percent from last year, with container volume falling 10.2 percent and trailer volume dipping 27.0 percent. Total volume was estimated at 28.3 billion ton-miles, off 16.8 percent from 2008.
And the hits keep coming for cargo numbers...this time air cargo:
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released international scheduled traffic results for both December 2008 and the full-year.
In the month of December global international cargo traffic plummeted by 22.6% compared to December 2007. The same comparison for international passenger traffic showed a 4.6% drop. The international load factor stood at 73.8%.
For the full-year 2008, international cargo traffic was down 4.0%, passenger traffic showed a modest increase of 1.6%, and the international load factor stood at 75.9%.
“The 22.6% free fall in global cargo is unprecedented and shocking. There is no clearer description of the slowdown in world trade. Even in September 2001, when much of the global fleet was grounded, the decline was only 13.9%,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.” Air cargo carries 35% of the value of goods traded internationally.
