This surge stems from importers addressing existing backlogs and expediting new orders before potential policy changes at the end of the 90-day period. Freight rates are projected to rise sharply in the coming weeks as importers rush to capitalize on this window of opportunity. J.B. Hunt told us “their intermodal business is doing well, and they’re bullish on it,” he said. Noting that the long-haul volume index is down 30%, Fuller said “that long haul stuff is a lot of manufactured goods that are moving through the economy, and that tends to be a large piece of the over the road truckload market.”
“How long are we going to stay in this situation where you have Donald https://ulstergrandprix.net/meet-the-sponsors-ifs-logistics/ Trump at a 145% tariff and China saying, we’re going to take the pain? “The comment made to me was a lot of our customers are going to go bankrupt,” Fuller said. Fuller spoke from the perspective of also owning several small e-commerce businesses that sell among other things model airplane products.
Others in the industry, including ourselves, notice that carriers benefit the most from this artificial demand creation and importers are left shouldering higher costs. The observation among those in the industry is the speed of the tariff announcement, specifically, will take many importers by surprise as the https://power-at-work.com/lifts-streamlining-logistics-in-high-rise-construction-projects/ announcement was made late last week going into the weekend. With capacity trimmed and policy headlines in flux, expect choppy, headline-sensitive pricing into late October, tight in the near term, then cooling if the tariff rush fades. With our commitment to high-quality journalism and in-depth reporting, you won’t find a better source for freight news anywhere else.
- Project44 announced that it is separating into two focused businesses to serve shippers and logistics service providers with greater precision.
- On a second-quarter earnings call, company officials said tightening driver availability, increased regulatory enforcement and rising operating costs are removing capacity from the market faster than freight demand is growing.
- With its spin-off completed, standalone carrier FedEx Freight wants to reverse recent volume declines by filling more trailers with non-industrial freight.
- FTR and Witte Econometrics project weakness in manufacturing based on Federal Reserve data.
LTL CEOs see firmer demand, higher revenue driven by truckload tightness
Coming off a strong earnings report out of J.B.Hunt, Fuller said the bottom line at the trucking company that is also a huge intermodal operator suggests there is a sign of “sort of an intermodal renaissance.” “There is an absolute utter collapse in the manufacturing business economy,” Fuller said. “And the reason that it is so highly correlated is that it’s local within 100 miles,” Fuller said. “I think we will look back and say the recovery actually started sometime in the middle of 2025, when we started to see some of these changes,” Fuller said.
Xeneta publishes the 2026 Air Freight Outlook Update
- Port Houston reported its first container slowdown since early 2025 in April, though executives say improving May volumes point to a quick recovery.
- As increased manufacturing capacity comes online, trucking, 3PL, and rail companies should find ways to capitalize on these opportunities.
- Todd began his career in banking and finance before moving over to transportation equity research where he provided stock recommendations for publicly traded transportation companies.
- It has rocked the freight market if for no other reason than the cost of filling a truck has …
- “And this is what the truckers are fighting right now and this is what brokers are fighting, a deterioration in the volume available to them because of intermodal,” Fuller said.
Without a housing recovery, “it’s hard to believe that a freight market would come back,” he said. Warehouse closures and bankruptcy filings hit more firms across trucking, logistics, intermodal and trailer businesses. Drive your business forward with up to date information on freight market conditions and supply chain insights.
Maybe it’s because of the warehouse on wheels effect, but indicators on the strength of the trucking market have not taken a significant downward move as a result of tariff uncertainty. “I was with a large transportation player this week, and they made the comment that a lot of their customers have asked for slower transit time,” Fuller said. Todd began his career in banking and finance before moving over to transportation equity research where he provided stock recommendations for publicly traded transportation companies.
July marked the highest utilization reading since January (60.1), with firms upstream in the supply chain, like wholesalers, reporting expansion (60.7) versus no change (50) among downstream retailers. Most truckload carriers have advanced initiatives to better utilize equipment through the protracted downturn, including the removal of tractors from service. Even with the modest capacity expansion, https://investnews24.net/tels-global-the-best-international-logistics-company.html both transportation utilization (59.5) and transportation prices (63) were up in the month, 6.6 percentage points and 1 point, respectively. Sentiment around transportation capacity has signaled growth for more than three years now. While up only 20 basis points from June, the subindex continued to show that any recovery in the freight cycle is unlikely to come from the supply side. The Logistics Managers’ Index – a diffusion index in which a reading above 50 indicates expansion while one below 50 signals contraction – returned a 52.6 reading for transportation capacity in the month.