On this week’s episode of Check Call, host Mary O’Connell joins David Spencer, director of business intelligence at Arrive Logistics, to break down the happenings in the freight market for the month of June.
Key quotes from Spencer:
“As far as contract compliance goes, we still believe that the fuel costs at the beginning of March play a big part in that, accelerating the attractiveness of contract freight to carriers over spot freight. An increase in contract compliance is largely tied to the increase in fuel, but you also have to point to what we’ve seen with demand really as a component of that as well.”
“We’re looking at strong compliance now through what is summer peak season, really Memorial Day blip and CVSA Roadcheck week blip, neither of those causing monumental spikes in tender rejections and a sign that as we see demand ebb and flow, it’s not having an impact on these routing guide compliances.”
“That downturn in demand that we’ve seen has left these retailers with excess inventory, and that’s what is filling up their warehouse space and resulting in containers sitting in their parking lot stacked and on chassis keeping containers and equipment locked up.”
“Shippers who have full warehouses are having to make the decisions of having to pay these fines and penalties of leaving these containers at the rail yards, and ultimately what that does is lower the confidence and service levels of the rail carriers and pushes more freight over the road.”
Also on the podcast, we talk about Carbotura, the company that turns landfill waste into zero waste. This could be the first step to take to help brokerages advocate for their community and decrease waste put in landfills — at no charge to landfills or municipalities.
Got any pain points or things you wish were better in the supply chain and the world of transportation? Contact O’Connell to be on a future episode of Check Call.