Source: Intermodal Association of North America & American Association of Railroads.

American Intermodal Rail Traffic, 1990-2009

Recent rail transport trends in the United States underline a significant shift of intermodal traffic to the advantage of containerized freight. While rail intermodal container traffic (COFC), both ISO and domestic, has increased by 68% between 1999 and 2006, the number of trailers carried by rail (TOFC) has actually declined by about 28% during the same time period. This represents a significant change in the balance of 55% TOFC / 45% COFC in 1990 to 15% trailer / 85% container in 2008. TOFC has thus become a marginal segment of intermodal transportation used for niche services, most of them point to point.

58% of the containers handled in 2005 were international (maritime) containers, while domestic containers accounted for 23% and trailers 19%. About 25% of all international cargo moved by rail is transloaded into domestic containers. COFC traffic appears to have peaked in 2007 and declined in 2008 and 2009 due to declining import demands.

One of the core advantage of COFC versus TOFC concerns double stacking, involving a  much higher utilization density. Several large American trucking companies are converting to containerization, thus relying on COFC as opposed to TOFC. For instance, in 2009, citing energy and cost advantages, major LTL shipper Schneider National converted its entire intermodal fleet to containers. JB Hunt, with the largest fleet of domestic 53-foot containers, is also converting.

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