The association of American Railroads (AAR) reported a significant increase in weekly rail freight  for the week ending January 14^th. US railroads originated 298,500 carloads for the week winch represented an increase of 5.5% when compared to the same week last year whilst intermodal shipments increased 18.2% when compared to a week previously and up 7.4% when compared to the same period last year.

Crushed stone, sand and gravel carloads are up a phenomenal 33.2% when compared to the same week in 2011. Motor vehicles and equipment show strong signs of recovery with weekly carloads up 31.5%. Petroleum products are also up 28.9%.…

The Cass Freight Index, which measures No0rth American shipping freight volumes, was up 0.75 in volume when compared with December 2010 and 15% up when compared to December 2009.

This strong December result is indicative of retailers maintaining low inventories and postponing delivery of shipments until the end of Q4, 2011.

The December results were very good news for US shippers as it followed two months of declining freight shipments. Shipment expenditure was up 1.8% when compared to November 2011 and expenditure was up a significant 18.8% when compared to December 2010.

The Cass Freight Index is a trusted…