The latest Cass outlook signals “economic contraction,” but the heads at some of the nation’s largest truckload carriers see a different path.
Guests at FreightWaves headquarters enjoyed a cocktail reception, dinner, and talks from industry luminaries.
January used to be known as the worst month for freight, but consumer trends are starting to change that.
Is 60 degrees hot or cold? Is the freight market hot or cold? The answers to both questions depend on perspective.
Economic and freight indicators are mixed, with some suggesting a downturn is coming, but others pointing to continued growth.
The history books will say many things about 2018, but whatever else is recorded, it will go down as one of the strongest years for spot and contract pricing increases in the history of trucking in the U.S. Will that trend continue?
Is the economy still healthy? Are people still making things, shipping things, and buying things? According to the railroad car data, the answer is a definitive “Yes.”
2018 may have seen tight capacity and the strongest economy on record since the Great Recession, but what will 2019 look like?
SONAR’s OTVI.LAX is clearly indicating that the strength in the inbound loaded container flow out of the Long Beach/LA port is continuing and gathering momentum.
SONAR’s Headhaul Index map and the HAUL.JOT Index are both showing that the return to growth in inbound loaded container flow first seen in the Long Beach/LA port is continuing and gathering momentum.
The Freight Movement is in partnership with Arrive Logistics …Arrive Logistics has partnered with freight analyst and economist Donald Broughton to teach shippers how to take advantage of freight flow trends to benefit their business.
Rail seems to be benefiting from higher diesel prices and capacity constraints with SONAR data suggesting more loads are shifting to intermodal in shorter lengths of haul.
Indices are clearly signaling that the container volume coming in through the Long Beach/LA port is surging and bodes well for the holiday shopping season.
Tender volumes are taking many by surprise, but not those that understand what is happening with the use of ELD’s by small carriers, especially in the dry van segment.
The smartest minds on Wall Street use charting analytics to quickly identify and then track trends in multiple data sets. Why? Because it works. And now freight professionals are learning how to do the same.
The Dry Van Weekly Barometer is predicting stronger contract pricing in coming months. Even though it has pulled back from extreme highs, it continues to reflect one of the highest levels of demand in excess of capacity in the history of the barometer.
All three modes of truckload freight are reflecting an environment in which demand exceeds capacity by a wide margin, which sets up for continued strong contract pricing.
After setting one record high after another in the early weeks of 2018, the weekly DAT Dry Van and Reefer Barometers have pulled back but remain in a strong growth range.
After setting one record high after another in the early weeks of 2018, the weekly DAT Dry Van and Reefer Barometers have pulled back slightly before stabilizing in a strong growth range.
Both Dry Van Weekly Barometer and Reefer Weekly Barometer are predicting stronger contract pricing in coming months.
Since the volume of high-value, low-density goods grows faster than other parts of the goods spectrum, the outlook for global airfreight continues to be bullish, however, there are now some cautionary signals.
Candid conversations with leaders in the logistics/truck freight brokerage industry.
As the trucking industry continues to broadly install and learn to use the ELDs, there are beginning to be large disparities in the way the devices are impacting capacity via mode.
After setting one record high after another in the early weeks of 2018, the weekly DAT Dry Van and Reefer Barometers have finally pulled back slightly, before stabilizing in a strong growth range.
Flatbed freight remains red-hot with 111 loads for every truck, but what is causing the surge in demand?
Some signs of a stabilizing market after a long upward run, but nothing that suggests weakness.
This week we are using the Cass Information Systems data to review what is happening in the economy overall.
If you want to make a million dollars, all it takes is a little hard work and creating something that has value.
The current level of freight strength would be notable if it were June, September, or October, but it’s not. It’s February data. It is impossible to predict exactly how long this will last, but at least through 2018 we expect capacity to remain tight.
As the Trump administration makes public its intent to look at using tariffs to address what it believes are inequities in global trade markets, it set the stock market into a tailspin for good reason. We decided to lay out a basic primer and history lesson on tariffs.
Persistance is important in reaching any deal, but delivering on what you promise is equally important.
Current financial news headlines are full of stories about inflation and the resurgence of inflation in the U.S. economy.
There are many stock analysts that have been predicting a stock market decline. The question now becomes, are we looking at a correction or something more indicative of a slowing economy?
Most shippers, carriers, and students of the freight market spend most of their time focused on a particular mode. It makes intuitive sense that you would focus on the mode that you spend the most time in which you are buying services or providing services. Net result, there are plenty of experts in rail, truck, and intermodal/container freight, and with the ongoing prodigious growth of e-commerce, there is a growing number of experts in parcel freight. That said, we continue to be surprised how little attention overall is given to airfreight.
It is a well-worn axiom in the investing world that “the most expensive thing on Wall Street is an ego.” It’s true in the world of investing money, but it’s true for the rest of the world as well.
Parcel volumes associated with e-commerce continue to show outstanding rates of growth, with both FedEx and UPS reporting strong U.S. domestic volumes, but the current strength is more than just the ongoing growth of e-commerce.
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.
The latest weekly and monthly DAT Trucking Freight Barometers are continuing to surge strongly into even more positive territory, and proving our September prediction that “the ‘fall surge’ is happening for the first time since 2007,” has come to pass.
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.
Almost every freight flow is growing. Some are growing a little and some are growing a lot, and all of them are accelerating in their rates of growth. Transports are surging as the underlying strength in both the consumer and industrial goods flow continues to improve. We see this as extraordinarily bullish for the overall U.S. economy.
In a mere seven months, the trucking marketplace has gone from over-capacitized to the most under-capacitized in recent history as the market dynamics have dramatically changed.
For years we’ve heard arguments about how better supply chain visibility will lead to a logistics environment that is easier to predict, plan, and manage. But sudden changes can quickly derail those plans.
For the first time since DAT began reporting its data in the current format, the monthly spot rate has exceeded the contract rate at the same time in all three modes. And the latest DAT Trucking Freight Barometers are continuing to signal that the ‘fall surge’ is happening for the first time since 2007. Now is a good time to have secured capacity and a bad time to be locked into contract rates.
The more individuals participating in a marketplace, and the more money that is being transacted in that marketplace, the more predictive that marketplace becomes. That’s why trucking remains one of the best indicators of economic activity. Here is what the weekly DAT Barometers for dry van, reefer, and flatbed are saying.
TransRisk, a pioneer of solutions designed to allow transportation industry participants to efficiently manage price risk in the North American freight transportation market, has added nationally recognized transportation markets leader Donald Broughton to its team.
Across the nation, rising freight volumes, a strong produce season and the ongoing oil boom are driving up spot rates, but how long will the current trend continue?
“If you look back at the DAT truck data, which is essentially the NASDAQ of truck freight brokerage, you would know ahead of time,” Donald Broughton told CNBC, explaining why the firm’s data is a good indicator of economic trends.
