Truckload

Pricing for refrigerated truckload service is shooting up along the US-Mexico border and outbound from California, in some cases by more than 20 cents per mile from April’s averages, as fruit and vegetable crops start moving to market.

Trailer marketplace technology provider vHub estimates a quarter of truckload trailers are out of network for the nation’s carriers, with an abrupt shift in demand exacerbating that dislocation.

Excess capacity is lingering in US freight markets because fewer carriers than expected have gone bankrupt so far this year, analysts say.

US trucking companies added jobs for the second straight month, but the employment wave hasn’t reached package delivery firms or warehouses.

Shippers are moving more freight in the US Southwest, and paying more to do so, despite weak trucking markets elsewhere in the country, according to U.S. Bank.

Transportation observers believe the dueling complaints could have implications for the US spot truckload market because DAT is a primary source of available loads that brokers and carriers use to fill their pools of owned or third-party capacity.

Echo Global Logistics, Coyote Logistics and prominent transportation management system vendors Oracle and e2open are among new members adding momentum to a truckload appointment scheduling initiative.

Transportation and logistics companies continue to grow by acquiring competitors, and although the wave of acquisitions may have crested there is still plenty of opportunity in a soft market.

Despite negative trends being felt in some parts of the US manufacturing landscape, it’s not all bad news for trucking because other sectors are poised to have volumes at or above 2022 levels, writes analyst Jason Miller.

With contract rates down as much as 16 percent in March, producer price index data indicates truckload carriers are making more use of accessorial charges.

The market bottom remains untouched as the all-inclusive average spot rate paid by US truckload shippers fell again in March, declining in lockstep with other truckload pricing measures.

The 50 largest US trucking companies maintained a two-year double-digit growth streak and may add to that in 2023, despite a slower US economy.

The number of for-hire trucking firms entering the US market is nearly as large as the number leaving on a monthly basis, which is helping to keep capacity loose despite the departures.

There is still room for spot rates to fall, but rates and freight demand are likely to turn later in the second half, analysts say. 

In preparation for produce season and retail sales, for-hire trucking companies are adding to their payrolls for the first time since October, although warehousing employment is still declining.

Knight-Swift, the largest US truckload provider, will substantially expand its reach and scalability for shippers with the purchase of U.S. Xpress, the country’s ninth-largest truckload carrier.

Shippers that often use spreadsheets and small transportation teams to bid and execute freight shipments are the target of a new software tool from technology provider Shipwell.

Trucking is a tale of two sectors in early 2023, with truckload carriers making more significant contract rate concessions than less-than-truckload companies, according to the US producer price index.

An actual decrease in truck tonnage last month was masked by a seasonal adjustment to an American Trucking Associations index, but US freight volumes aren’t yet on the road to recovery.

Freight coordination software provider Leaf Logistics is working with a number of shippers and truckload carriers to build flexible, dedicated fleets to allow for continuous moves in big US markets.