Shopping for better rates
Increasing capacity in the truckload sector and rapidly rising costs for domestic intermodal service — along with a growing antagonism toward the rail industry's collection of fuel surcharges — are leading more shippers to seek motor carriers to move their freight. Truckload rate increases above historic 2%-per-year levels are leading shippers to use smaller carriers and transportation intermediaries to lower costs.
The latest Freight Pulse study — a semi-annual survey of shippers conducted by equity research firm Morgan Stanley with Logistics Today and the National Industrial Transportation League — reflects a consistently solid economic outlook. As they did in September 2005, shippers rate the current economy with a score of 7.0 on a 10-point scale (10 = strong economy). Shippers have been consistent in their view of the economy since March 2004, when the Freight Pulse recorded a 6.9. Surveys prior to 2004 put the economy at 6.0 or below.