FTR

Earlier this week, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) said it signed off on an amendment to THE Alliance Agreement that, in a sense, ensures each member of THE Alliance has each other’s back in the form of a contingency fund that FMC said “can be used to help member carriers manage through, and recover from, the insolvency or financial distresses of a participating line.”

Recent data from FTR and the American Trucking Associations provide in-depth insight on motor carrier and shipper market outlooks.

FTR described the May reading as “benign” and a reflection of only moderately favorable truck freight growth and ongoing weak contract pricing.

The May TCI reading of 7.01 was in line with April’s 7.03, which posted a more than 4 percent gain over April.

For April, the most recent month for which data is available, the SCI was -3.6, which FTR called a modest deterioration and leaves it in a soft negative range of tightening capacity utilization that reflects the ability of shippers to fend off pricing increases from their contract carriers.

If you ask anyone heavily involved in the less-than-truckload (LTL) sector, what their most pressing need or concern is, there is a good chance that you will be told that five more feet of trailer space, from 28 to 33, is at the top of the wish list for a whole host of reasons.

FTR explained that softer freight conditions and a view of adequate capacity over the past eighteen months have slowed the expected decline in the SCI, adding that any market-wide tightness reflected in recent tightening of spot rates is currently less than originally thought.

Coming off a nearly 2.5 point increase from January to February, the Trucking Conditions Index from freight transportation consultancy FTR, which was issued today, fell back to more familiar territory.

2月,最近几个月的数据is available, the SCI was -2.8, which represented an improvement over January’s -3.6 but not as close to positive readings recorded in November and December at -0.6 and 1.9, respectively.

The most recent edition of the Shippers Conditions Index (SCI) from freight transportation consultancy FTR issued this week points to a “more challenging environment” for shippers in early 2017.

While the industry feels positive following the election, FTR said there are risks related to various economic proposals currently being considered by the new administration and Congress.

FTR said that it is likely that the current market environment for shippers will lead to what it said would be rate and supply trouble this year, due to a steady increase in capacity utilization, which it expects to occur through 2017 and come to a head in early 2018.

For December, the most recent month for which data is available, the ICI was 6.98, which was ahead of November’s 5.0 and October’s 5.26, with FTR noting that intermodal finished 2016 with decent momentum. And it added that the ICI is expected to see gains in the coming months as a result of what it called a robust rate environment, while cautioning there are also some tailwinds in the form of potential trade policy changes issued by the White House.

For December, the most recent month for which data is available, the TCI was 2.9, which is down from November’s 4.38 and October’s 4.58. FTR said this decline correlates to soft conditions that impacted the sector over the second half of 2016.

Moderately favorable was how freight transportation forecasting firm FTR described the current state of the intermodal sector vis a vis to truck, according to the Intermodal Competitive Index (ICI), which the firm recently released.