Intermodal volume strengthened in the first quarter, growing 6.3 percent, according to Intermodal Market Trends and Statistics, a quarterly publication of the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA).
Growth improved from the fourth quarter’s 5.5 percent pace. The first quarter gain marked a solid four years of advances that started in the second quarter of 2002. During this period, quarterly volume increased by more than one-half million loads.
Domestic intermodal increases accelerated in the first quarter, adding 4.4 percent compared to the fourth quarter’s 1.3 percent gain.
International gains continued in the first quarter, though at a somewhat slower pace than 2005.