Freight traffic on U.S. railroads rose during the week ended December 9 compared to the same week last year, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.

Total volume of an estimated 33.2 billion ton-miles was 4.7 percent above the comparable week last year.
Intermodal volume of 241,549 trailers or containers was up 1.6 percent from last year.
Container volume rose 6.1 percent for the week while trailer volume declined by 10.4 percent.
Carload freight totaled 323,900 cars, up 3.5 percent from last year, with loadings up 11.8 percent in the West but down 6.0 percent in the East.

Seven out of 19 carload commodity groups were up from last year, with loadings of coke up 42.7 percent, grain up 14.2 percent, and coal up 9.7 percent.

Among commodities registering declines were:

loadings of lumber and wood products, down 27.9 percent;
primary forest products, down 14.9 percent;
and waste and scrap materials, down 12.4 percent.