Features Breakbulk & Project Cargo
Counting cars
Growth in energy-linked project cargo exacerbates US rail car shortage
By Autumn Cafiero Giusti
An aging fleet, a declining number of cars, and a high volume of energy-related project cargoes are pushing North American rail capacity to its limits, resulting in cost increases and scheduling delays for project moves.
Cargo shippers and forwarders have found themselves taking on more of the burden for inland transport, relying on barges and trucks to fill in the gaps and even expanding their own fleets of heavy-duty rail cars.
The North American freight car fleet contracted by 24,149 cars between 2019 and 2025 to 1.66 million, a 1 % decline, according to data from the Umler Index by researcher Railinc Corp., which tracks rail equipment.
“ I see a perfect storm coming up of ships arriving that will not have rail cars.”
Mark Lockwood, vice president of key accounts and corporate counsel for the North American arm of international project forwarder Fracht Group, told the Journal of Commerce that rail car maintenance and availability has been on the decline since the early 2000s, with many cars either approaching the end of their 50-year lifespan or becoming obsolete. Now, with the data center boom and grid upgrades resulting in a surge of power generation and energy infrastructure projects, the rapidly increasing demand for these cargoes has placed a considerable strain on rail capacity at a time when project developers have made speed to market the order of the day.
“ The railroad service has been very poor lately on moving this type of cargo; the transit times have increased,” Lockwood said.“ I see a perfect storm coming up of ships arriving that will not have rail cars” to move cargo inland.
The rail capacity shortage presents challenges specifically for cargo pieces that weigh over 600,000 pounds, Lockwood said.“ The car supply is very low for that. Sixteen axles and above are in very tight supply,” he said.
Carsten Wendt, head of sales for high and heavy and breakbulk at ocean carrier Wallenius Wilhelmsen, said railbound shipments have not been getting picked up on time
RobertKovacs / Getty Images from US ports. That has been the case specifically for heavylift and oversized power generation project cargo such as transformers, gas turbines and steam generators that require transport by rail after being discharged at ports.
“ That is a big problem for us,” Wendt said.“ And we’ ve been seeing this more in the last few weeks and months.”
Mark Davenport, logistics provider and rail specialist for original equipment manufacturer( OEM) Siemens Energy, told the Journal of Commerce the lead time for rail cars can be several months, whereas previously it was measured in weeks.
14 Journal of Commerce | June 2026 www. joc. com