Intermodal rates drop for 13th straight month

Rates fell another 2.2 percent in January compared to last year, the 13th consecutive month prices have decreased, according to the latest Cass Intermodal Price Index.    Intermodal rates fell 2.2 percent in January 2016 compared to January 2015, according to the latest Cass Intermodal Price Index, which measures all-in per-mile costs.
   Cass Information Systems Inc., a transportation intelligence analyst, said year-over-year rates were down for the 13th consecutive month. Intermodal rates dropped 3.8 percent in December 2015, 2.4 percent in November, and 3.2 percent in October compared with the previous year.
   The continued decline in rates is now equal to the record 13 months from Dec 2008 through Dec 2009 since the index’s inception in 2005, said Cass.
   Analysts with investment firm Avondale Partners attribute the decline primarily to the steep fall in diesel and crude oil prices throughout 2015.
   “We expect intermodal rates will continue to decline in 2016 as the dramatic drop in diesel prices … takes its toll on U.S. domestic demand,” Avondale said in a statement. Consequently, “the ~$0.35 a mile decline in fuel surcharges collected by truckers in the last year and a half has to challenge demand and pricing power for domestic intermodal.”