This fireside chat recap is from the FreightWaves Domestic Supply Chain Summit.
FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Where will spot rates go in 2022?
DETAILS: As rates continue to soar, Edge Logistics’ Will Kerr talks to FreightWaves’ Tony Mulvey about where the freight market is headed in 2022.
SPEAKERS: Kerr is president of Edge Logistics, and Mulvey is a senior research analyst at FreightWaves.
BIO: Kerr has been president of Chicago-based freight brokerage Edge Logistics since 2014. In November, he was named to the Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40 list for 2021. He previously worked as a freight broker at Echo Global Logistics.
Key quotes from Kerr
“We are pretty bullish on 2022, especially for the winter. Typically the winter — January, February, March — can be a little bit of a lull and a little bit of a reallocation of freight, and everybody is trying to figure out new contracts and that kind of stuff. But we think the spot market is going to be pretty aggressive throughout the winter, which is atypical, and we’re pricing our freight accordingly.”
“I think the economy is really strong and that we are having a strong recovery. And yes, inflation is a problem right now, especially for the consumer. … But I don’t believe that short-term consumer sentiment — mostly related to inflation — is going to have a major long-term impact on trucking volumes.”
“It [the freight market] always hits a point when there’s enough capacity in the market to handle the volume because as there’s opportunity, people add capacity, naturally. So we’ll see when that is, but I don’t think it’s going to be in 2022.”
