Truckload rates show negative growth again in April

Truckload pricing dipped another 2.3 percent in April 2016 compared to the same 2015 period following a 0.6 percent decline in March, the first negative pricing change since May 2010, according to the latest Cass Truckload Linehaul Index.    Truckload rates fell another 2.3 percent in April 2016 compared the previous year following a 0.6 percent decline in March and year-over-year increases of just 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent in February and January, respectively, according to the latest Cass Truckload Linehaul Index.
   Cass said the March pricing decline was the first since May 2010, but pricing growth has steadily contracted over the past 12 months, from 5.1 percent year-over-year growth in March 2015 to 3.8 percent in April, 3.5 percent in May, 3.6 percent in July and June, 3.7 percent in August, 3.2 percent in September, 1.9 percent in October, 1.6 percent in November and 1.1 percent in December.
   As a result, analysts at investment firm Avondale Partners noted there are still risks the market could come in at the lower end of their 2016 pricing forecasts. Avondale previously projected a range between -1 percent and 2 percent growth in truckload rates for the remainder of the year as “demand continues to soften while truckload capacity has been further increasing.”
   Factors contributing to excess capacity include driver pay increases, overall fleet growth, reduction in carrier bankruptcies and an easing of the 34-hour restart rule, according to Avondale.