Rates

Now that we are officially into 2012, it is a good time to assess just how things stand in regards to what is ahead of us. Compared to recent years, the dismal 2009 comes to mind, it stands to reason that things could truly be much worse. But at the same time we have many things to be concerned about.

Faced with a tight domestic transport market that includes labor and fuel pressure on carriers, shippers are inclined to leverage volume and go for extensions of past rate agreements. I would like to encourage shippers to start thinking outside the box.

The $26.5 billion less-than-truckload (LTL) is a tiny share of the nation’s $700 billion total freight transportation pie, but it increasingly is seen as a vital component in shippers’ supply chains.

A new indicator for truckload pricing, which was recently introduced by Cass Information Systems, the largest payer of freight bills with more than $17 billion in annual freight spend, and investment firm Avondale Partners, disclosed this week that per-mile truckload pricing saw significant gains in October.

The October 2011 edition of the Cass Freight Index showed signs of mixed messages, when it comes to figuring out freight trends. While freight shipments and expenditures were up annually, they were both down from September in another sign that the economic recovery is both gradual and unpredictable.

it’s a safe bet that few of you can name a famous demographer alive today. I certainly can’t, and I studied the subject as a graduate and post-graduate student. Yet demography—the statistical study of the size, structure, and distribution of population over time—provides an essential foundation for those wishing to understand oil economics and the development of oil and fuel markets.

During the third quarter earnings season to date, it appears that less-than-truckload carriers are in a good groove, when it comes to pricing.

September volumes were 3.2 percent better than August and were up 45 percent compared to September 2010, marking the highest spot market freight availability since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005

Despite sequential gains in shipments and expenditures, the September 2011 edition of the Cass Freight Index points to less than smooth sailing for the economy through the remainder of the year.

Despite data points that indicate the economy is firming, it may not always feel that way for shippers, especially these days. That was especially true with the recent release of the Shippers’ Condition Index (SCI) from FTR Associates.