The current freight marketplace makes one thing clear, America needs more trucking companies. Capacity is at historic lows and rates are skyrocketing nationwide. Read the Full Blog Post
After leveling off in April, pricing in the trucking industry rose again in May, with local trucking prices posting their largest month-over-month gain in the post-recession era with a 1.7% increase, according to May Producer Price Index.
Data on producer prices shows that overall inflation pressure cooled in the economy last month, as big declines in food prices offset gain in other areas of the economy. Trucking prices remained essentially unchanged for the second consecutive month, but remain elevated relative to this point last year.
Data from the Producers Price Index showed that prices for trucking services remain high, and a spillover in demand may be causing a surge in intermodal rates.
Some signs of a stabilizing market after a long upward run, but nothing that suggests weakness.
An new opportunity in an old port town is being largely ignored by the trucking community. Charleston South Carolina is showing signs of rapid expansion as the freight market cools down in the more voluminous Savannah.
Drop is viewed as normal during the winter by DAT
Seasonality has finally hit van rates as available loads dropped 6% last week, according to DAT.
A lot has been spoken about how the freight industry is sluggish on the uptake with regard to adopting technology, but the truth is, the industry needs a better understanding of demographics than it does technology.
The worst kept secret in the industry is that demand is in excess of capacity in every mode of truckload trucking, and has been for several months.
Just like everyone else who is familiar with the new regulation and the way that the trucking industry works, we expect that adoption of, and enforcement of, the ELD rule will initially lead to some constraints on trucking capacity. How big will that reduction be and how long will it last is yet to be seen.
Everyone who is even remotely aware of the trucking industry in the U.S. knows that the ELD rule goes into effect on Monday. Time will tell, but if there are not massive numbers of trucks parked on the side of the road, and shippers are actually able to find trucks to move loads, we will not be surprised.
By the first week of December, the DAT weekly spot market price for dry-van loads had reached $2.09 (including fuel surcharge) or almost 30% higher in just 9 months. This is an extraordinary, but what is more extraordinary is the fact that the trucking marketplace is more than 3 times the size of the Bitcoin market capitalization, which has grown 22% in 12 months.
Chances are pretty good you got into trucking to make money. Some carriers, though, continue to suffer through lean year. They are always running short of money, and can never seem to get ahead. Their problem may be their hauling rate.
John Larkin and the team at Stifel go super bullish on the truckload sector after spending weeks on the road gaining market insights to just how hot the market has become.
According to the latest blog post from FTR written by Steve Graham, the effect of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma is now starting to show up in national economic data.
