News Briefs - July 7
The Latest Headlines:
- ATA Economist Says Recovery Broad-Based Within Trucking
- Survey Finds Many Large Companies Expect to Hire
- Logistics Market Fragmented, NAFC Told
- Survey Finds Many Large Companies Expect to Hire
ATA Economist Says Recovery Broad-Based Within Trucking
American Trucking Associations Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a June 25 economic review that the economic recovery was broad-based within the trucking industry.Both the truckload and less-than-truckload segments were posting higher year-over-year freight volumes, pushing up profits for the first half of the year, he said.
Seasonally adjusted truck tonnage for 2004 was up 6.4% from the same point in 2003, despite dropping 1.4% from April to May, ATA said in its monthly tonnage report.
TL and LTL revenues were 9.7% and 9.9% higher, respectively, than in April 2003, he said. In the TL sector, average revenue per mile jumped 6.7% compared with the year earlier, while average revenue per load jumped 7.4%, he said.
LTL yields were mixed from April 2003, however, as the average revenue per shipment jumped 4.1% but the average revenue per ton fell 0.3%.
Costello attributed the dip to multi-drop TL shipments moving to the LTL sector because of higher accessorial fees associated with new driver hours-of-service rules. Transport Topics
Survey Finds Many Large Companies Expect to Hire
The National Association for Business Economics said its survey on business conditions found that 41% of respondents expect their companies to increase employment during the second half of the year, up from 34% a quarter earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.The association received survey responses from 104 of its members, who are mostly economists or other executives at large companies, the Journal said.
The survey also said 61% reported rising demand for goods and services during the second quarter, while 30% reported that demand was unchanged and 9% that it was falling. Rising demand would also increase the demand for trucking services.
The association said the responses on demand were the strongest in seven years. Transport Topics
Logistics Market Fragmented, NAFC Told
DALLAS — The third-party logistics market remains highly fragmented for shippers and carriers because of a lack of standardization for fuel surcharges, freight payment terms and technology, said George Abernathy, executive vice president for sales and marketing at Transplace.But he told the National Accounting and Finance Council’s annual meeting here that logistics firms were still in the strongest position to help fleets drive freight optimization and asset utilization amid current capacity constraints.
Transplace, which represents the combined non-asset logistics units of six truckload carriers, said freight rates had increased an average of 2% to 5% in recent months.
“We’re seeing rate increases, negotiating to the greatest degree we can. We’re trying to have the carriers we deal with and shippers be as efficient as they can,” Abernathy said. “There are a lot of inefficiencies in the way freight is being tendered. There are better ways to skin that cat.” Tiffany Wlazlowski
This story appeared in the July 12 print edition of Transport Topics.
