LTL Freight News

Right now there is a big driver shortage in the trucking industry and the ports are backed up for multiple reasons. This is causing chaos in the supply chain and shippers not aligned with quality partners are facing tremendous rate hikes and delays in transit. There are some key government regulations on the horizon for the trucking industry including electronic logging devices, speed limiters and your typical “going green” initiatives for cleaner emissions and more fuel efficient trucks. Additionally, many carriers have placed or will be placing new equipment orders for new trucks that should yield better fuel mileage, and these investment costs from the carriers in new equipment and driver training and retention will be passed along to shippers in the open market. Also, in an effort to improve productivity and better align pricing to reflect their costs, carriers have begun using density scanners to analyze the freight in their systems for a better understanding of the shipments ...

It’s A Carrier’s Marketplace  The Freight-rate Climate Is The Best It’s Been In About 20 Years  Shippers Should Expect Rate Increases Up To 10%  Carriers Purging The Poorest Paying Routes In Favor Of More Lucrative Business  Higher Than 10% Rate Increases  Driver Shortage & Government Regulations Are #1 Concerns For Carriers  The Situation Is Likely To Deteriorate Further  More Government Safety Regulations Working Through The Federal Regulatory Pipeline LTL In The Middle Of The Best Market Conditions Since 2005  2013 Weighted Avg. OR Of Public LTL Carriers was 92.9 – The Best LTL OR Since 2007 Carrier, 3PL & Shipper COLLABORATION IS A MUST To Drive Efficiencies 3PLs Will Become An Extension Of The Ltl Carrier’s Sales Channels  Carriers Will Not Tolerate Bad 3PL Relationships  3PLs Must Bring Good, Profitable Business To Carriers To Be Partners  The Best 3PLs Will Get The Best Pricing  Barriers To Entry ...

When carriers make an attempt to deliver a shipment but are denied or can’t perform the delivery because of no fault of their own (i.e. inaccurate information and / or lack of equipment) they will take it back to the terminal, put it on a different truck or get the correct information, and then attempt delivery of the original shipment. LTL carriers will charge a re-delivery fee for this should something similar occur. The ltl re-delivery charge is a fee that the carriers charge to help them recoup the costs incurred to perform the additional requirements necessary to deliver the shipment. When the recession hit back in ’08-’09, all of the ltl carriers began vying for market share with a rate war of sorts, and they would often overlook or waive this charge in order to win or maintain business. During that time some ltl carriers were even hauling freight that resulted in a net loss just to keep employees and equipment employed. Now they are struggling to keep supply in line with deman...

Truckers have been hit with many blows recently, including the hours of service changes, higher operating costs from aging fleets, and insurance requirements. The aforementioned items have done nothing but hamper the situation when it comes to the driver shortage in the trucking market. Rates are going to have to rise in order to help even out the demand, or else there will be continual backlogs of freight and service issues. Something has to give. Yesterday, the American Trucking Association released that the For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased by 1.3% in July. The ATA's Chief Economist, Bob Costello noted “The solid tonnage number in July fits with the strong factory output reading and a jump in housing starts for the same month. I continue to expect moderate, but good, tonnage growth for the rest of the year.” The railroads are seeing the benefit of the driver shortage, but that still doesn't do away with the need for the drivers once the rail is at the unloading destinat...

With capacity issues becoming more and more evident, Transport Topics and the American Trucking Association (ATA) recently reported that the March truck tonnage index was up 3.1% over March 2013. The ATA's Chief Economist, Bob Costello, said “Tonnage continued to claw its way out of the hole that was dug in December and January. However, with a cumulative gain of 2.5% during the last two months, we still have a way to go to offset the total loss of 5.2% in December and January." The brutal winter weather in the US this year coupled with the trucking industry's driver shortage, tightened government regulations, and even a shortage of diesel mechanics contributes to lower than expected US truck tonnage reported for December 2013 and January 2014.  Meanwhile, according to the Department of Commerce, new home sales in the US dropped to its lowest level in 8 months. The worst decline in home sales was in the Midwest which saw a 21.5% drop.