For second-quarter 2025, international containers were up 3.9% and domestic containers improved 2.6%, while trailers fell 25.4% (see chart, top).
According to IANA, five of the seven highest-density trade corridors, which collectively handled more than 60% of total volume, were up in the second quarter. The Trans-Canada was by far the leader, it said, at 18.3%. The Intra-Southeast gained 6.8%, followed by the South Central-Southwest at 4.6%. The Midwest-Southwest and the Northeast-Midwest, the two highest volume corridors, came in at 3.0% and 2.9%, respectively. The Midwest-Northwest fell 7.6%, and the Southeast-Southwest declined 8.7%.
Total IMC volume fell 9.7% year-over-year in second-quarter 2025, with intermodal traffic down 8.2% and highway loads were 11.9% to the negative, IANA reported.
Intermodal Outlook
“Imports drove North American intermodal loadings in the first quarter, and they continued to propel intermodal traffic in Q2,” IANA said in its report (scroll down to download). “While future volumes will likely be reduced as a result, higher prices from tariffs have not yet impacted goods and consumer spending, and thus total 2025 import traffic should still be solid. Overall intermodal network volume is forecasted to rise 2.1% in 2025 on the heels of an 8.5% gain in 2024. International container loadings are expected to increase 2.8%, and domestic container traffic is predicted to notch 3.0%, feeding off transloaded imports and incrementally better position vis-à -vis trucking. Trailers, however, have seen more accelerated declines than originally anticipated and are now projected to dip 21.7% this year.”
IANA also reported on trucking performance and provided intermodal implications. “For the moment, trucking companies appear to have removed as much driver capacity from the market as they can to bring stability to both the employment and for-hire carrier populations,“ the association noted. “Nevertheless, very small operations, the same ones used by intermediaries, have been highly resilient, and their capacity remains elevated. Tariffs might be the catalyst for a purge of weak trucking firms within their ranks, but so far that severe hit to freight has not materialized. The weakness in truck orders offers some hope of a tighter truck freight market down the road, but it is difficult to pinpoint when that factor might come into play. Likewise, consumer-driven stress on trucking that will boost intermodal does not seem to be in the cards for the near term.”
Summed up IANA President and CEO Anne Reinke: “Imports and solid consumer spending continued to buoy intermodal in the second quarter. While domestic U.S. manufacturing is providing additional support, the longer-term impact of tariffs and trade policy on overall volume remains to be seen.”
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