Weekly discussion and analysis: Trends in the intermodal spot rate market

Intermodal Spot Rate Per Mile (including Fuel)-2

For the week of July 23, 2024, domestic intermodal spot rate index:

Up 0.3% from prior week.
Down 11.5% from prior year.

Year-to-Date Intermodal Volume by Region and Railroad vs. 2023

North American Intermodal: 8.1%

United States: 8.4%

Railroad

BNSF: 16.4%
CN: 8.2%
CPKC: -4.2%
CSX: 4.8%
GMXT: 28.2%
NS: 7.4%
UP: 3.1%

Comparison of Truckload to Intermodal Spot Rate

National Truckload Spot Rate (as reported by the DAT Trendline Report):

Down 1.6% from prior week.
Down 1.0% from prior year.

Domestic 53' Intermodal Spot Rate:

Up 0.3% from prior week.
Down 11.5% from the prior year.

For a full review of the 2024 US Intermodal Savings Against Truckload we point you to a tremendous piece of research the Journal of Commerce publishes quarterly.

Diesel Fuel Update

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported an average diesel fuel price of $3.779 per gallon this week, which is down $0.047 or 1.2% from the prior week.

The diesel price per gallon is down $0.126 or 3.2% from the same period last year.

The full spreadsheet of the historical weekly price moves of diesel full can be found at https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel.