The U.S. economy adds 678,000 payroll jobs in February.
•Crude, diesel prices soar in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
•Retail inventories see another solid increase.
•The surge in new trucking companies continues in February.
•Volatility is the order of the day for rail volumes.
2021 was a challenge for the intermodal industry. Coming off the pandemic-dented 2020, 2021 dawned with the promise and hope of better consistency and growth for intermodal and the supply chain in general.
TRUCKING: Trucking conditions improve, but they might have finally peaked.
RAILCAR: Carload volumes are being held back by four main commodities to start 2022.
INTERMODAL: International volumes remained weak in December and face near-term headwinds to growth in 2022.
SHIPPERS: Fuel costs are proving to be the difference between tough and really tough market conditions.
The U.S. economy adds 467,000 payroll jobs in January.
• Job openings and quits remain close to record levels.
• The number of newly authorized trucking companies remained high in January.
•Diesel rises to its highest price since August 2014 as crude tops $90 a barrel.
• Rail carload and intermodal volumes remain stuck in neutral.
U.S. payroll job growth was weak in December, but the labor market is complicated.
• Job openings remain near record levels as job quits set a record.
• Truck spot rates set a record to end 2021.
• Nearly 110,000 new trucking companies entered the market in 2021.
• Rail and intermodal volumes see typical movements during the holidays.
The outlook for intermodal dimmed this month as it appears volumes will hold at present levels through the end of the year. There is demand to move more goods via intermodal, but congestion and metering by the carriers are limiting how high volumes can go. The existing thinking is that volumes will not improve meaningfully until the mid-to-late-first quarter at the earliest.
TRUCKING: Strengthening freight rates support a high floor on market conditions for carriers.
RAILCAR: The 2021 carload outlook took another step down in the latest month and now sits at just over 5% compared with 2020.
INTERMODAL: International and domestic traffic each weakened in September as volumes are metered by providers.
SHIPPERS: Market conditions are stalled at a level unfavorable to shippers.
This c-suite synopsis of the transportation markets is provided to all of our Premium clients along with weekly transportation updates.
This c-suite synopsis of the transportation markets is provided to all of our Premium clients along with weekly transportation updates.
Headlines
• Rebound in auto output key to May’s strength in industrial production and manufacturing output.
• Retail sales fade slightly in May after two stimulus-fueled months of record spending.
• Housing starts stabilize with a small gain after three months of volatile activity.
• General freight truckload Producer Price Index posts its strongest gain ever in May.
• Rail carload rebounds to pre-holiday volume but intermodal still lags.
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