Total intermodal volumes fell 2.9% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2021, according to the Intermodal Association of North America’s Intermodal Quarterly report.
International containers gained a slight 0.9% from 2020; domestic shipments, on the other hand, lost 5.7%; and trailers, 11.2%.
“Despite the various headlines on supply chain disruptions, the third quarter volume loss was small relative to the size of this year’s earlier gains and in comparison to the previous 15 months of continuous gains,” said Joni Casey, CEO of IANA.
The seven highest-density trade corridors, which collectively handled more than 60% of total volume, showed mixed results in the third quarter:
- Southeast-Southwest was up 9.2%
- Midwest-Northwest up 6.8%
- Trans-Canada up 6.7%
- South Central-Southwest down 8.7%
- Intra-Southeast down 4.6%
- Midwest-Southwest dropped 3.1%.
- Northeast-Midwest down 1.7%.
Total IMC volume rose 10.6% year-over-year in Q3, with intermodal down 4.7% and highway loads up 20.8%