September 24, 2026
U.S. Intermodal Freight Moderates Picks Up in September, IANA Index Shows
CALVERTON, MD — September 24, 2026 — The Intermodal Association of North America today released the latest reading of its Intermodal Volume Index (IVI), a measure of North American intermodal freight activity. The September 2026 estimate of 106.4 is a 1.5% increase from August and 5.2% from the year prior, underlining the strength of this year’s intermodal volumes.
“September's IVI reflects the strength we'd expect as we enter peak season, plus additional growth from strong imports and continuing domestic share shift away from long-haul trucking,” said Andrew Sibold, Director of Economics. “2026 appears to be following a normal historical pattern, and is on track to be a record breaking year.”
Against a 2017–19 baseline set to 100, IANA gauges what is happening right now — before the official monthly figures are published. It works by translating a high-frequency freight activity onto the same scale as the published index, giving shippers, carriers and analysts an early snapshot of current-month demand. The result is a real-time picture of the intermodal freight economy.
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