Report Sees Slow Trucking, Freight Recovery in 2010
The U.S. trucking and rail freight industries are expected to record modest volume improvements in 2010, according to an analysts’ report released Monday.
Fitch Ratings’ forecast for overall gross domestic product growth is a “relatively tepid” 1.8% for next year, as the economy will remain pressured by high unemployment and continued sluggish consumer demand.
Rail and truck volumes reached a low in this year’s second quarter but have seen generally positive, if mild growth trends since then, Fitch said.
The firm said it expects these demand trends to carry into next year, with year-over-year volumes turning positive in the first quarter of 2010 as prior-year comparisons become easier.
But the process of recovery is expected to be relatively slow, with overall freight demand not expected to return to pre-recession levels until sometime in 2011 at the earliest, Fitch said.
