During the fourth quarter of 2009, intermodal's share of U.S. long haul movements of international and domestic containers increased 0.2 percent from the third quarter, with 13.3 percent market share

, according to the February issue of FTR Associates' Intermodal Monthly Update.

"Intermodal has gained share for three consecutive quarters since the freight meltdown late last year," said Lawrence Gross, senior consultant for FTR and principal author of the Intermodal Monthly Update. "This latest increase has been driven by improvement in the international intermodal sector, an indication that imports and exports are rebounding faster than domestic traffic. The market share of the domestic intermodal sector, which had been growing earlier in the year, was flat in the fourth quarter."

Gross expects intermodal's share to continue trending upward. "Provided that the railroads maintain their current high levels of service, we see a variety of factors leading to a resumption of domestic share growth even as the international sector continues to rebound," he said.