Hurricanes in the Southeast continued to batter performance at CSX, which saw its fifth consecutive week of traffic declines in the week ending October 9th. However, other Class 1 railroads were experiencing growth in intermodal traffic.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Norfolk Southern continue to report volume growth in intermodal. The BN saw intermodal increase 9.5% in the week of October 9th. NS had an 11.9% increase for the same period. Traditionally a low-margin business for the railroads, NS and BN appear to be improving their profitability on intermodal traffic, according to equity research firm Morgan Stanley.
Intermodal is now 32.7% of BN’s traffic and 23.7% of NS volumes. CSX carries 29.9% intermodal, Union Pacific 21.7%, and Kansas City Southern 19.2%.
Motor vehicle volumes declined 2.8% in week 40 and 2.8% year to date.
