Analysts See Recent Rate Increases Holding Firm

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/printeditiontag_new.gif" width=120 align=right>ANAHEIM, Calif. — Motor carriers that have been raising freight rates may be able to hold onto them well beyond the peak holiday shipping season because trucking companies are better managing their capacity, costs and customers, transportation specialists said.

A large number of trucking companies have raised rates in recent months — some by 6% or more -— as demand for transport often exceeds available tractor-trailers, said logistics officials who buy transportation services for shippers.

Robert Davidson, ABF Freight System’s vice president of marketing and pricing, told Transport Topics at the National Industrial Transportation League conference here Nov. 16-19 that the closing of giant less-than-truckload carrier Consolidated Freightways in September altered the rate situation.

For the full story, see the Nov. 25 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.