Insights - January 2014 - (Page 7)

2011-2013 YEARLY TRAFFIC TOTALS BY MONTH November Year-to-Date Totals 2012 2013 Change Trailers 1,500,188 1,457,830 -1.6% Domestic Containers 5,133,648 5,616,673 9.6% All Domestic Equipment 6,633,836 7,092,503 6.9% ISO Containers 7,076,808 7,199,143 1.7% 13,710,644 14,291,646 4.2% Total For information on IANA's Intermodal Market Trends & Statistics products, visit www.intermodal.org or contact Tara Mullen at 301-982-3400, ext. 366. extremely strong in November, demonstrating the tremendous value that intermodal has become for rail customers," said John Gray, AAR's senior vice president. "Carload traffic continues to be consistent with an economy that's growing at a moderate pace." The number of U.S. carload originations rose 1.3 percent on a year-overyear basis in November, to 1,145,353, marking the first time in two years that year-over-year carload gains were achieved in four consecutive months. AAR figures for Canadian railroads showed November intermodal originations of 223,041 units, up 7.5 percent from November 2012, while Canadian carloadings, at 328,779, were up 5.6 percent. Imports Increase at Containerports Major U.S. containerports are continuing to see year-over-year gains in import volumes, according to the latest Global Port Tracker report from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates. According to a Dec. 9 report, the ports handled 1.43 million twenty-footequivalent container units of import cargo in October, up 6.4 percent from October 2012 but down 0.4 percent from September. The report projects that the total import volume for 2013 will be 16.2 million TEUs, up 2.3 percent from that for 2012. Jonathan Gold, the NRF's vice president for supply chain and customs policy, commented Dec. 9, "Imports have seen good growth over last year, and retailers are well-stocked as the holiday season continues. Holiday merchandise has made it from the ships to the shelves and the rest is up to the shoppers." Ben Hackett, founder of Hackett Associates stated, "The U.S. economy appears to have found a growth spurt. "The paradox is that consumer spending remains very cautious and does not come anywhere near the expansion of GDP," he continued. "The reason is the increasing levels of inven- tory. Despite back-to-school sales, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and regular sales, the inventory-to-sales ratio remains stubbornly high. Hopefully, November and December numbers will show a catch-up that will help reduce the inventories." Global Port Tracker covers the U.S. ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Tacoma, Houston, New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston, Savannah, Port Everglades and Miami. Crowley Orders New LNG Ships Crowley Maritime Corp. plans to deploy a pair of vessels powered by environmentally friendly liquefied natural gas. Crowley has signed a contract with VT Halter Marine Inc. of Pascagoula, Miss., to build the world's first LNG-powered combination ships with container and roll-on/roll-off capabilities, known as ConRo vessels, according to a Nov. 25 Crowley - continued on page 10 January 2014 | Intermodal Insights 7 http://www.intermodal.org

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Insights - January 2014