Cass Freight Index Shows Decline in March Shipping Activity

WSDOT/Flickr

The Cass Freight Index, a measure of shipping activity in trucking and other transportation modes, declined in March and expenditures also dipped, Cass Information Systems said.

Shipping declined 5.1% in March from the year before. Shipments rose 0.3% from February as traffic from West Coast ports picked up significantly, the St. Louis-based firm said April 14.

“Truck shipments were down in February [the latest month available], largely due to bad weather in most of the country. However, the DAT Solutions spot market freight volume indexes rose 34% in March compared to February,” Cass said in its report.

Freight expenditures declined 3.5% from last year but rose 1% from the prior month.

“Rate increases are taking hold and the expected growth in freight in the second quarter will put more strain on a freight distribution system that is having difficulty supplying enough capacity,” Cass said.

Labor problems at West Coast ports contributed heavily to lower imports that have fallen for two consecutive months, according to the report.

“First-quarter freight volumes were affected by labor problems, slowdowns and work stoppages at West Coast ports, extreme winter weather throughout much of the country and a slowdown in the global economy," the report said. "The ports are now dealing with fallout from the labor issues — both good and bad: the Port of Portland in Oregon had two of its biggest container carriers, HanJin and Hapag-Lloyd, drop the port because of slow and unpredictable service stemming from protracted union labor issues.”