Truckload

The merger of two Phoenix, Az.-based truckload giants, Swift Transportation and Knight Transportation, was approved late yesterday by Swift stockholders, Swift officials announced yesterday. Swift said it expects to the merger to close today.

In an award-winning collaboration effort with a 3PL and TL partner, this global performance nutrition company has drastically reduced costs—all while improving service through and innovative “embedded” arrangement.

Like the summer weather in many parts of the country, the current state of the truckload contract and spots market remains in a good spot. That’s the word from DAT Solutions, a subsidiary of Roper Industries, based on different data sets it has issued throughout this summer for different periods.

Learn about the 34th Annual Quest for Quality Award winners for Truckload Carriers

June was a booming month for spot truckload freight activity, according to data issued this week by DAT Solutions in its DAT North American Freight Index. DAT defines the North American Freight Index as a measure of conditions on the spot truckload freight market.

E-commerce continues to fuel a boom that’s tempered by overcapacity, rate pressures, sluggish demand and political doubt. The result: “cognitive dissonance” that finds a $1.4 trillion market scratching its head.

In a marketplace that’s seeing a slew of new entrants and significant technological advances, the truckload brokerage market finds shippers and carriers alike seeking out the highest visibility and the best value in a fiercely competitive environment.

Turbulent market roils with consolidations and “muted” freight demand

Earlier this month, Chicago-based project44, a technology services provider offering standardized, secure Web service API (application programming interfaces) integrations enabling 3PLs and shippers to connect with carriers in real time, announced it rolled out new capabilities with a focus on enabling multimodal visibility across a single user interface.

A new breed of leadership is creating a long-term vision to earn strategic relationships with shippers. Solid day-to-day execution and aggressive investment in technology set the direction for trucking’s new guard.

Company officials said that with this office, the company will be able to better assist Latin America-based customers, while continuing to provide shippers with truckload, less-than-truckload, intermodal brokerage, and transportation management services.

DAT North American Freight Index fell 2.5 percent in January, following an 8 percent December increase, snapping a six-month stretch of gains. But even though the post-holiday drop-off remained in effect, January truckload spot market activity was up 56 percent annually.

The company’s North American Freight Index was up 8 percent in December, marking the sixth straight month of volume gains. DAT attributed strong momentum for e-commerce and grocery shipments as the main growth drivers for December, a month that is typically quiet for the spot market.

Total third quarter invoice revenue for all TIA member study participants—at around $2.19 billion—was down 11 percent annually, and total shipments—at 1,272,945—decreased 4.3 percent. The average invoice per shipment of $1,722 fell 7.4 percent, with profit margin percentage up 90 basis points to 15.8 percent.

What the most recent edition of the North American Freight Index clearly spells out is that the truckload spot market is heading on a growth path, showing sequential gains from July through November for the first time in five years, DAT observes that this is interesting on multiple levels, including how the Index typically peaks in June and then subsequently sees declines through the remainder of the calendar year, coupled with ramifications for 2017 shipper-carrier contract rates.