Freight Volumes See Strong Increase in March

Shipment volume and total freight payments continued to climb in March, ending the first quarter of the year on a high note, according to the Cass Freight Index.

While bad weather continued to plague many parts of the country, transportation seemed to be less affected than in January and February.

March shipment volume increased 6.6 percent over the prior month, on top of the 7.3 percent rise seen in February.

The number of shipments was 0.4 percent higher than last March and 4.6 percent higher than in March of 2012.

Railroad carloads rose fairly steadily throughout March, up over 5 percent, while intermodal loadings increased over 3 percent.

Truck traffic has also been picking up after falling for the first two months of the year.

Freight expenditures rose for the second month in a row, rising 5.4 percent over February.

Expenditures rose at a slower rate than volumes, indicating that most of the increase can be attributed to the change in volume.

This is the second highest point the payments index has reached in four years, and 5.3 percent higher than in the same month in 2013. Freight spending was up 6.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013 compared to the previous quarter.

Category: General Update, Management