Truckload pricing dipped 0.6 percent in March 2016 compared to the same 2015 period, the first negative pricing change in nearly six years, according to the latest Cass Truckload Linehaul Index.
Truckload rates fell 0.6 percent in March 2016 compared to the previous year following year-over-year increases of just 0.5 percent in February, and 0.4 percent in January, according to the latest Cass Truckload Linehaul Index.
Cass said the pricing decline is the first since May 2010, but pricing growth has steadily contracted over the past 12 months, from 5.1 percent year-over-year growth in March 2015 to 3.8 percent in April, 3.5 percent in May, 3.6 percent in July and June, 3.7 percent in August, 3.2 percent in September, 1.9 percent in October, 1.6 percent in November and 1.1 percent in December.
As a result, analysts at investment firm Avondale Partners noted there are still risks the market could come in at the lower end of their 2016 pricing forecasts. Avondale previously projected a range between -1 percent and 2 percent growth in truckload rates for the remainder of the year as “demand continues to soften while truckload capacity has been further increasing.”
The bearish tone is due largely to continued overcapacity which “is a negative to pricing especially in the spot market,” Avondale added.
Truckload rates fall for first time since May 2010
