The international part of the U.S. intermodal market will be weak for most of 2010 because U.S. consumer spending is still too slow to generate strong growth in imported containers, said a top official of Norfolk Southern Railway, the Journal of Commerce reports.
James Squires, the carriers chief financial officer, told a BB&T Capital Markets conference Feb. 10 that of the major freight traffic segments for NS we have only one market that we expect to continue to be down this year, and thats international intermodal.
The NS track network sprawls across the Southeast and mid-Atlantic region, and reaches into the Northeast, Midwest and Mississippi valley. NS moves international box loads from the Atlantic coast into the Midwest, and takes handoff box traffic from western railroads to consumer centers in its eastern territory.
Squires said domestic intermodal loadings for NS grew five percent in the fourth quarter, and should keep growing solidly in 2010 by drawing container and trailer loads away from all-truck highway moves.
But he said the import-heavy international box traffic is a market driven by the consumer and global trade patterns, and the international intermodal volumes are projected to be weak this year, as a result of continued weak consumer spending.
NS volume in that international sector fell 30 percent for all of 2009 and 22 percent in the final quarter, said Squires. Now, in our view it will take most of 2010 for this market to show any appreciable recovery.
(This item appeared in the Journal of Commerce Feb. 11, 2010.)
Troll, you lie. Pipes and I both know that the Heartland Corridor will be open by then and trains will be backed up from Chicago to Norfolk. Snippy doesn't believe it but Pipes and I know better. You made that up, MORAN!
