This fireside chat recap is from FreightWaves’ Domestic Supply Chain Summit on Wednesday.
FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Freight market conditions and what to keep an eye on in 2024.
DETAILS: Brent Hutto, chief relationship officer at Truckstop.com, explains the recent spot market cycle and why current conditions will likely linger through the first half of 2024.
KEY QUOTES FROM HUTTO:
On why this spot market cycle has been different: “What’s not been normal is fuel. What’s not been normal is inflation and that makes things really hard, especially on small market players. So that’s why you see a lot of the pain inside of the spot market.”
On 2024 outlook: “Kind of more of the same. Kind of just continuing to work out this giant marketplace that we had. Since it increased so much, it’s going to take a little bit longer to get out. These next six months [are] probably just more of the same.”
Why contract rates have remained elevated in comparison to spot rates: “Most shippers don’t want to take the risk of not being able to get goods to market. … [Carriers operating under contracts] have been able to maintain a really positive contract rate inside the marketplace.”