Freight

Roughly three months after it acquired the technology and intellectual property of Seattle-based digital freight network Convoy, following the closing of Convoy’s business, due to the effects of the freight recession and a slowdown in capital market activity, San Francisco-based freight forwarding and customs brokerage services provider Flexport said earlier this month that it has formally introduced the rollout of the Convoy platform to its service portfolio.

January’s shipment reading, at 1.039, fell 7.6% annually, and January expenditures, at 3.102, fell 24.3% annually.

The state of the freight economy was a key theme at the SMC3 JumpStart 2024 conference held in Atlanta late last month. Avery Vise, vice president of trucking, for freight transportation consultancy FTR, offered up his views on the freight economy, at the moment, and where things could be headed.

The report’s fourth quarter shipment index value, at 95.0, was down 10.9% compared to the third quarter and down 15.7% annually. On the spend side, the report observed that the fourth quarter reading, at 233.9, fell 13.5% annually and was down 1.4%, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter.

When posed the question of if there is really strong product consumption, coupled with consumers spending, why is that not being felt in the freight market, Prather explained that based on looking at data going back multiple decades, at time, freight transportation and the general economy get disconnected from one another.

December’s shipment reading, at 1.077, was down 7.2% annually, and December expenditures, at 3.230, were off 23.7% annually.

For October, the most recent month for which data is available, the TCI reading, at -6.07 saw improvement compared to September’s -8.97. That was preceded by August’s -12.54 reading (its lowest reading going back to November 2022), which was preceded by July’s -5.34 reading and June’s -6.29 reading.

The ATA’s advanced Seasonally Adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index, for September, at 113.9 (2015=100), was down 1.1%, following a 0.2% increase, to 115.3, in from July to August.

For July, the most recent month for which data is available, the TCI reading was -5.34, faring better than June’s -6.29, the lowest TCI reading going back to November 2022.

The decrease in consumer spending, which, as we all know, drives roughly 70% (give or take) of all economic activity, was a key theme in a blog posting recently issued by National Retail Federation (NRF) Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz, in the NRF’s Monthly Economic Review. The key thesis made by Kleinhenz was that even though U.S. consumers are buying more than they were a year ago at this time, growth in spending is slowing down, as does the economy...

While supply chain disruptions have lessened, ASCM and KPMG’s Stability Index continues to point to increased global instability.

Despite some carriers expressing positive sentiment for the second half of this year, demand may not hit the heights of 2021.

platform, which is focused on modernizing and transforming how freight is loaded, unloaded, and transferred. Entitled Vaux, ArcBest said that through this platform, a trailer’s entire contents can be unloaded in less than five minutes while also provide what it described as complete visibility into freight movement within warehouse facilities, on the dock or over the road.”

Fourth quarter freight shipments—at 113.0—were down 4.6% compared to the third quarter, for the largest sequential decline since the first quarter of 2021, and were down 7.1% annually, marking the largest annual decrease since the third quarter 2020. For expenditures, the fourth quarter reading—at 272.3—was off 0.2% compared to the third quarter and was up 1.8% annually. The annual gain represented its lowest increase since the third quarter 2020.

When looking at the current state of intermodal volumes, a few quick themes jump out, observed Larry Gross, president of Gross Transportation Consulting at the last month’s RailTrends conference in New York.