What does the next freight cycle look like?
The rest of the year could be characterized by relatively low rates and volatility Like it or not, freight market volatility is here to stay. The post-recession environment that filled our expectations with the concept of “normal” is in the distant past. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic era, the U.S. transportation sector was experiencing an […]
Making strategic investments in digital supply chain in a downcycle
At its annual Investment Community Meeting in April in Tampa, Florida, Walmart’s management team took the opportunity to lay out an ambitious transformation of its supply chain. Walmart U.S. CEO and President John Furner explained how the retailer was digitally combining its ambient, perishable and e-commerce supply chains, which were built separately and in parallel […]
How supply chain leaders can be the CFO’s hero
Cut costs, then help finance set new budgets Freight rates in all modes have come down hard since last year, and if you’re a transportation manager or supply chain leader, you probably feel confident about hitting your budget this year. You might be tempted to take the downcycle off, put strategic initiatives on the backburner […]
Predicting the next turn in the freight cycle
Freight markets feel stuck in unseasonable doldrums with volumes low, capacity loose and rates in a trough after supply chain activity cooled post-COVID. But as we know, the relationship of supply and demand is not static, but dynamic and ever-shifting. A pendulum moves slowest and briefly pauses just before it starts falling in the other […]
How long does it take the freight market to flip?
Not long at all. During the last freight cycle, there was a 56-day period when truckload spot rates increased by 25.6% and a 59-day period when rates fell by 15.1%. Right now, transportation rates are unseasonably low and capacity is plentiful across most modes of traffic, from North America truckload to trans-Pacific ocean container shipping. […]
Are Freight Volumes About To Fly? (with video)
On this episode of #WithSONAR, co-hosts Luke Falasca and Kyle Taylor focus on the number one leading indicator of domestic truckload volumes, which is U.S. import volume. Using SONAR’s Ocean Shipments Report app can help companies in all modes “read the future” and know where freight will be coming into the U.S., when and in what […]
SONAR Indexes & Insights: What is the Outbound Tender Volume Index (OTVI) & Current Impact on Freight Volumes
It’s another Monday and the SONAR team is ready for another “SONAR Indexes & Insights”. Each Monday, you’ll learn about another index found within the freight forecasting platform from FreightWaves, SONAR. This week we’ll focus on freight volumes by defining “What is the Outbound Tender Volumen Index (OTVI)” and by concluding what these historic freight […]
Forecasting Volumes and Capacity – Freight Forecasting (video)
Freight Forecasting host Michael Vincent is joined by Zach Strickland, FreightWaves’ Director of Freight Market Intelligence. They discuss the apparent peak of freight volumes and how SONAR can help subscribers recognize the next hot market. SONAR’s billions of data points provide subscribers a wide variety of data sets so that they can focus on the […]
Truckload volumes and warehousing – Freight Forecasting (video)
Lead Economist Anthony Smith joins Freight Forecasting host Michael Vincent on this episode. They discuss the current spike in volumes and warehouse inventories as they relate to imports. Watch the episode below: Examples include comparisons of volume in Los Angeles to the rest of the nation, the year-over-year increase in intermodal rail out of Los […]
Cost vs. Volume – Freight Forecasting (video)
Zach Strickland, FreightWaves’ Director of Freight Market Intelligence (and the “Sultan of SONAR”) joins Freight Forecasting host Michael Vincent on this episode. Zach and Michael discuss why freight demand is not enough to forecast rates. A major advantage of FreightWaves SONAR freight forecasting platform is that it has millions of data points and many, many […]
5 business tips for a successful Q3 2020 in the freight market
1. Prepare for freight volatility – The balance between volume and capacity is more fragile than it was at the beginning of the second quarter. Tendered load volumes hit a record in SONAR in mid-March. April was the opposite though, as load volumes collapsed due to the economic shutdowns. Tendered load rejections, which track truck […]
Freight economy rebound may be underway. Carrier bankruptcies and unseated trucks will drive next spot rate surge.
Freight volumes are slowly come back to trucking market, but it will take a while before volumes in the contract freight market are significant enough to drive higher spot rates. There is a potential capacity shortage by the end of the year, caused by unseated trucks and trucking bankruptcies.
