Truck freight quantity continued to contract in Q1, US Financial institution says

Truck freight quantity continued to contract nationwide throughout the first quarter, regardless of main will increase within the southwest U.S. area, in accordance with the most recent U.S. Financial institution Freight Cost Index.

Particularly, the amount of freight shipments moved through truck declined within the first quarter of 2023 by 6.1% year-over-year, marking the fourth quarter in a row the place quantity has contracted on an annual foundation. That consequence aligns with different current reviews on falling freight volumes throughout all truck sorts in current months, similar to ACT Analysis’s For-Rent Trucking Index and FTR’s Trucking Circumstances Index (TCI).

The drop was most intense within the Southeast (16.1%), West (14.1%), and Northeast (13.8%) areas. Shipments additionally fell year-over-year within the Midwest, dropping a smaller quantity—simply 2.4%—however exhibiting a persistent decline because it dropped for the twelfth straight quarter.

In distinction, shipments within the Southwest area elevated 14%, the area’s largest year-over-year enhance since early 2018. Causes for that pattern embrace a nearshoring pattern to supply items from Mexico as an alternative of abroad, and a shift of container imports away from West Coast ports, the report mentioned.

“This quarter was a main instance of how essential it’s to look at regional knowledge when assessing truck freight shipments within the U.S.,” Bobby Holland, director of freight knowledge options at U.S. Financial institution, mentioned in a launch. “Boosted by rising truck-transported commerce with Mexico and elevated exercise on the Port of Houston, truck freight exercise within the Southwest area is markedly completely different than what we’re seeing in different areas.”

In the meantime, spending on truck freight fell nationwide simply 0.3% year-over-year pushed by an 8% year-over-year spending drop within the Midwest. Spending rose in all different areas, together with by 16.7% yearly within the Southwest and seven.8% within the Southeast.

“It’s clear that capability will not be uniform throughout the nation,” Bob Costello, senior vice chairman and chief economist on the American Trucking Associations (ATA), mentioned in an announcement. “The spending knowledge we’re seeing within the South is extra proof that there’s actual trucking provide tightness there, whereas the Midwest is experiencing the alternative.”