Freight traffic across North America fell 16.6 percent in the week ended July 4 from the same 2008 week, including a 14.4 percent drop in US rail freight as industry shipments dwindle due to the slumping economy, Reuters reported.
For the first 26 weeks of the year, North American rail freight was off 20 percent to 8.7 million carloads from 10.8 million in the same 2008 period, the Association of American Railroads said.
Intermodal volume, freight loaded into a container or truck trailer and then transported by train, fell 16.8 percent in North America from the first 26 weeks of 2008, the group said.
US freight transportation in the first 26 weeks of 2009 has reached an estimated 723.7 billion tonne-miles, down 18.3 percent from 885.7 billion at this time a year earlier, the report said.
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