Weekly discussion and analysis: Trends in the intermodal spot rate market
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For the week of April 22, 2025, domestic intermodal spot rate index:
- Down 0.3 from prior week.
- Down 8.2% from prior year.
- As the above chart suggests, the year-over-year gap will continue to close through the 2nd QTR. We anticipate the intermodal spot rates will then hold fairly close to prior year because the lack of a freight market catalyst to tighten capacity to a level that would drive rates up.
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Year-to-Date Intermodal Volume by Region and Railroad vs. 2024
North American Intermodal: 5.6%
United States: 8.3%
Railroad
- BNSF: 9.0%
- CN: -1.5%
- CPKC: 7.0%
- CSX: 3.9%
- GMXT: -0.6%
- NS: 4.5%
- UP: 15.5%
Comparison of Truckload to Intermodal Spot Rate
National Truckload Spot Rate (as reported by the DAT Trendline Report):
- Down 0.5% from prior week.
- Up 0.5% from prior year.
Domestic 53' Intermodal Spot Rate:
- Down 0.3 from prior week.
- Down 8.2% from 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 $3.534 per gallon this week, which is down $0.045 or 1.3% from the prior week.
The diesel price per gallon is down $0.458 or 11.5% 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.
Intermodal Spot Rate Trend Graphs
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