Capacity

GEODIS officials said that bringing Velocity into the fold expands GEODIS’ Capacity Solutions freight brokerage offering in North America at a time when the industry continues to face ongoing driver and truck shortages.

Earlier this week, San Francisco-based Uber Freight a subsidiary of the ubiquitous, ride-sharing service Uber, whose proprietary app matches trucking companies with loads to haul, announced it has rolled out a new self-service Shipper Platform north of the border in Canada.

The March 2021 TCI, which is the most recent month for which data is available, was 16.27, topping February’s 11.23 by slightly more than five points. This reading tops the previous record, of 16.17, which was set in October 2020.

The report’s shipments index value—at 117.5—was off 8.3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, and it was off 5.4% annually. On the spend side, the first quarter reading—at 212.2—was off 4.7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020 while increasing 12.8% annually.

Rivals and shippers say the proposed $25 billion rail merger between the Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific will have a positive effect on shippers even though the merger will reduce the number of Class 1 railroads in North America to six.

This webcast takes an in-depth look at what logistics carrier management means in the “new normal” and learn best practices for monitoring, measuring, and scaling your transportation partners to avoid supply chain disruptions.

While the truckload spot market finished 2020 from a position of strength, in that it hit various highs, DAT Freight and Analytics recently pointed out that spot rates have subsequently fallen 10% since the end of the year and are pegged to head down another 8%-to-10% in the coming weeks.

Higher rates, tight capacity, and a lack of empty container availability are major factors the current state of the global ocean container market.

Despite a decline in demand for ocean cargo service at the start of the coronavirus pandemic last year, spot container freight rates soon began to increase, driven by carriers’ supply discipline, say shipping analysts for Fitch Ratings.

Now that multiple pharmaceutical companies have stated that they have COVID-19 vaccines ready to go to help end the myriad troubles and travails that have been in full effect in the United States since mid-March, eyes are locking in on the logistics sector, and for good reason.

The September SCI, which is the most recent month for which data is available, came in at 0.97, ahead of August’s -1.79.

The September TCI, which is the month for which the most recent data is available, rose more than 2%, to 10.69, marking the TCI’s third highest reading going back to January 2010.

September shipments—at 1.099—were down 1.8% annually, nearly 6% better than August’s 7.6% annual decrease and were up 7.1% compared to August. And September expenditures, which measures the total amount spent on freight—at 2.888—rose 1.2% annually and were up 7.2% over August.

The August TCI, which is the month for which the most recent data is available, came in at 8.31, which is in line with what the firm called a “very favorable rate environment for trucking during the month.” This reading marked a significant improvement over July’s 2.84, and marked its second-highest reading, going back to March 2018, with the exception of June’s 11.35, the highest reading over the last decade.

In what it is calling a first of its kind approach to contract primary freight, Seattle-based digital freight network Convoy announced today it has introduced a new offering, entitled Convoy Guaranteed Primary. Convoy described this offering as an “industry-first pricing program to procure capacity for primary freight that reduces a shipper’s total cost by up to 19% while guaranteeing capacity.”