b'4American Journal of Transportation ajot.comCan railroads count on intermodal? (GREENINGcontinuedsince2007,whilereporting from page 2) fuel consumption and green-sources of business, like inter- house gas reduction initiatives The COVID comeback is supporting volumes for now, but servicemodal.(See sidebar on nextsince 2009. The AAR, for its competitiveness will tell the story longer term. column) part, has said that its been two In defense of its reliancedecades since the association By Peter Buxbaum, AJOT on coal, CSX has said that, aswas a member of the major-commoncarriers,railroadsity of the organizations cited Numbers for United Statesdemand for intermodal, saidcomplaining of late trains. Itare required by law to movein the Atlantic report.rail traffic through early MarchLanceFritz,CEOofUnionisourexpectationthatthereall forms of energy. BNSF tells of a stark contrast betweenPacificatarecentinvestorwillbeheightenedemphasishasrejectedthechargethatZ erol ighttheintermodalandcarloadconference.Wereseeingon improving employee avail- itsupportedclimatedenial,IntheAARsnewly sides of the Class I railroadsdemand through those serviceability,equipmentresources,saying,inastatement,thatreleasedpaper,therailroads performancethisyear.Statis- products really, really strong. androbustcommunicationtoit has never denied the sci- encouragelawmakersto tics released by the AssociationSpendingongoodsisquicklyresolveserviceissuesenceorexistenceofclimateembracemarket-basedsolu-of American Railroads (AAR)forecasted to rise 7% in 2021astheyariseandtopreventchange.UnionPacificsaidtionscapableofshiftingthe showedthattotalcombineddue to continued pandemic- themfrombecomingwide- ithasacknowledgedthenationtowardloweror-zero-trafficincreased1.7%duringinducedspendingpatterns,(COUNTcontinued onchangingenvironmentandcarbonchoices.Specifically, the first nine weeks of this yearnoted Alan Shaw, chief mar- page 6) climateriskinpublicfilingstherailroadscalledonpoli-compared to last, but that car- ketingofficeratNorfolkcymakerstoenactmarket-loadsweredown5.7%whileSouthern (NS), during a recentbasedemissionsreductions; intermodal units were up 8.6%.companycallwithanalystsashort-termgastaxincrease Intermodal growth is allandjournalists.Projectedfollowedbyatransitiontoa abouttheCOVID-19econ- strengthinconsumerspend- vehicle-miles fee; and an emis-omy,asdemandforgoodsing, low inventory levels, andsions surcharge based on vehi-spikedafterthefirstfewrecord tightness in the truck- clefuelefficiency.Consistent monthsoflockdownsanding industry will continue towith the choice of words, mar-e-commercelevelsparticu- spur growth in intermodal.ket-based,therailroadsalso larlyflourished.ConsumerTherailroadsintendtoargue against any prescriptive spending is expected to remainpress their pricing advantagemeans, meaning mandates, for elevated in 2021, leading Classparticularly in this environ- reducing emissions. These pro-I railroads to pin their hopes onment as things tighten on theposals,muchliketheiradvo-intermodal, especially when ittruckside,KevinBoone,cacy for coal, sounds like the comes to replacing their declin- chieffinancialofficerofrailroadsareadvancingtheir ing coal business. (See story onCSX told investors recently. business interests, especially at page 2.) Data suggests that theyTruck capacity aside, ser- the expense of trucks, and not willneedtouptheirservicevice levels have long been partso much leading the environ-game if they are to be success- of the intermodal value propo- mental vanguard. ful in this quest. sition.ButfederalregulatorsTotheircredit,therail-Parcels from UPS, FedEx,issued letters to the seven Class(GREENINGcontinued 10.0 in.and Amazon really juiced upIrailroadslatelastAugust,(Association of American Railroads) on page 6)First port8.0 in. of call.First tomarket. The Port of NY & NJ receives more first port of calls than any other U.S. EastCoast port. This first port of call status means unmatched speed to key inland markets and 46.3 million local consumers. Thats why, when it comes to speed to market, no other U.S. East Coast port comes close.Visit www.portnynj.com to learn more.The Port is a facility of The Port Authority of NY & NJ21PAM0003_A-PAPPort_Authority_PA 108 11523414 MCAmer. Journal of Transportation 205811 NewClose 1/28; Insert 2/8 01/26/21 12:40 PMMC4C Magazine Internal 1/01 of 1M. SchlachterK. SamankaA. LazoV. RobertsR. Strazzeri'