International freight has re-emerged as the driving force for intermodal growth because factors such as lower diesel and suboptimal rail service have slowed increases in domestic truck-rail freight, said experts as the 2015 Intermodal Expo in Fort Lauderdale, Florida last week.  "Domestic intermodal growth is very low by recent stanadards," said FTR Senior Consultant Larry Gross.  He compared an increase last month of about 1% domestic truck-rail freight with a 6.3% increase in international intermodal.    

A stronger dollar has encouraged imports and sustained international intermodal growth since a snapback in cargo flow in the months after the end of West Coast port disruptions that trimmed cargo volumes earlier this year.  The August numbers indicate that international growth has extended beyond the Spring.  Gross is forecasting faster growth in international cargo relative to domestic intermodal for the rest of the year, with import and export cargo increasing 2 percentage points faster than domestic intermodal.  That pattern could continue next year, but with a smaller gap between the categories of intermodal freight.   

Until the recent turnabout, domestic intermodal had outpaced international cargo because truck-rail attracted freight from highways.  As a result, domestic intermodal over the past several years has grown about twice as fast as international cargo.  "We are not seeing folks defect" to intermodal from trucks, Gross said, citing two reasons that have hurt truck-rail offerings.  "Intermodal service and pricing have come under a lot of pressure," he said, limiting the appeal of the service at a time when diesel price reductions are helping longhaul fleets.