Trucking

With gas prices making everyone uncomfortable, again, those same old fears about energy prices are back in the forefront. But it does not have to be these way. In fact, it should not be this way—period. That is how T. Boone Pickens, founder and chairman of BP Capital Management, sees it.

On the heels on a 2.7 percent gain in March, following a cumulative 2.8 percent decline in January and February, the April edition of the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index (PCI) was down 0.5 percent. The PCI has been down on a sequential basis in six of the last nine months, but it was up 3.5 percent compared to April 2010 and has been up annually for 17 consecutive months.

While the Cass data showed growth in February and March following three months of decreases, April was relatively flat on a sequential basis. April shipments at 1.113 were up 12.3 percent annually and 0.45 percent compared to March’s 1.108, with shipments above for the 1.0 mark for the 11th straight month going back to May 2010’s 1.014 breaking the 1.0 level for the first time since November 20008.

Earlier today, less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation services provider YRC Worldwide (YRCW) reported a $102 million net loss in the first quarter and a $2.14 loss per share. Despite the losses, company officials said this represented an improvement over the first quarter of 2011, which saw a net loss of $274 million and $13.15 per share.

First quarter earnings for Echo Global Logistics, a non-asset based freight brokerage company and a provider of technology-enabled transportation and supply chain management services, saw total revenue-at $129.4 million-increase by 45.3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2010.

ACT Research, a provider of data and analysis for trucks and other commercial vehicles, said this week that a preliminary reading of heavy-duty Class 8 commercial vehicles net orders for North American markets hit 32,800 units in April.

Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was up 11.8 percent in February 2011 compared to February 2010 increasing to $66.5 billion, according to data released by the United States Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).

YRC Worldwide, the financially ailing second-largest less-than-truckload (LTL) company which has lost in excess of $2.7 billion the last four years, says it has reached another “milestone” in its long-awaited restructuring plan now scheduled for completion in July.

The company has released JDA Transportation & Logistics Management 6.3.4, which company officials said is the “second phase” of its post i2 acquisition transportation and logistics product roadmap integration plan rolled out in April 2010.

Commercial trailer net orders and shipments in March saw significant gains compared to February, according to data from ACT Research Co., a provider of data and analysis for trucks and other commercial vehicles.

At a time when trucking market conditions are experiencing tight capacity, increasing fuel costs, and slow and somewhat steady volume gains, one of the survey’s main takeaways was that 71 percent of respondents believe that business conditions will improve in 2011 compared to 2010, with 22 percent expecting things to remain the same and 3 percent expecting them to get worse.

At last week’s NASSTRAC Logistics Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla., LM Group News Editor Jeff Berman had an opportunity to speak with Leathers about myriad industry-related topics, including energy prices, modal shifts, and government regulation, among others.

Diesel prices remained above the $4 per gallon mark for the third straight week despite dropping $0.7 cents to $4.098 per gallon, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).

YRC Worldwide recently announced it is making “significant progress” in steps it is taking to meet the agreements required in its effort to achieve its financial restructuring objectives by the end of July.

As I expected, NASSTRAC 2011 was replete with terrific content and information. The fact is, had it not been I would have been shocked.