Union Pacific train in Wyoming
“It’s going to be a pretty good year for the railroads,” said Anthony Hatch, an independent New York-based transportation analyst. International container traffic will rise as much as 7 percent this year, he said.
Growing global demand is helping to boost overseas sales of everything from aircraft to cotton, helping the U.S. trade deficit shrink in November as exports climbed to the highest level in more than two years, Commerce Department data showed Jan. 13. The 18 percent rise in containers through the six West Coast ports — which also include Oakland, Portland, Seattle and Tacoma — last year followed a 16 percent slump in 2009.