TRANSPORT STATISTICS * Europa - Freight Forwarding Index: still rising

Copenhagen,Denmark -Trucks & Business (Belgium), by Michael Buckinx -2 May 2011: -- The index of Freight Forwarding Danske Bank has continued to rise last month from 64 March to 67 April... This is less than what the participants hoped two months ago (71)...   It's air cargo that has shown the most dynamic, volumes of road freight and ocean freight remaining at relatively stable. The outlook in the latter two branches are, however, declining... (Image from internationalforwarding.co.uk: European freight forwarding)

TRANSPORT STATISTICS * USA - NAFTA Trade Jumped 11.8 Percent in February

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Joseph Bonney -May 3, 2011: --   Trade carried by surface transportation totaled $66.5 billion...  Surface transportation trade between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico was 11.8 percent higher in value in February than a year earlier, the Transportation Department reported...  The value of cross-border trade with the United States’ partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement totaled $66.5 billion. Trade with Canada rose 10.1 percent to $40 billion. Shipments to and from Mexico rose 14.5 percent to $26.6 billion...  The total value of cross-border trade was up 38.8 percent from $47.9 million in February 2009, which was the lowest level of any month since February 2004. Trade value in February 2011 was down 4.1 percent from the early recession level of February 2008, unadjusted for inflation...

TRANSPORT STATISTICS * USA - Freight Index Reports Shipments Up 6.9 Percent

Bridgeton,MO,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Apr 6, 2011: -- Freight shipments jumped 6.9 percent in March, with tonnage increasing across transportation modes, according to the Cass Freight Index... Year-over-year, freight shipment volume rose 13.8 percent in March, according to the monthly index of freight spending and shipping activity...  The gain in March was the first sizeable monthly rise in shipment volume tracked by the Cass index since last August. Shipments rose 2.6 percent in February...  Freight spending by shippers rose 6.3 percent in March, on the heels of a 12.5 percent increase in February. Year-over-year, freight payments rose 33.6 percent... 

* Index Shows Tighter Truck Capacity. Increase reverses March decline as shipping activity builds

Independence,OH,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Apr 7, 2011: -- The Longbow Research Truckload Barometer shot up 5.9 percent, indicating truckload capacity tightened in early April as freight demand increased... A key measure of truckload capacity shot up 5.9 percent, or 9.1 points, indicating that truckload capacity tightened in the first week of April as freight demand increased... The Longbow Research Truckload Barometer rose to 164.2 from 155.1, reversing a 5.7 percent drop in the index in the month of March... Since January, the index has risen 49.4 percent. The index measures available freight against available equipment, climbing as capacity contracts... Year-over-year, the barometer is up 51.7 percent, Longbow said April 7... Strong produce demand in the Southeast and improvements in manufacturing and retailing are constricting the availability of tractor-trailers, Longbow said...

TRANSPORT STATISTICS * Canada - TransCore: Spot freight volume sets new record

Toronto,ONT,CAN -Today's Trucking -21 March 2011: -- TransCore’s Canadian Freight Index set another record for spot market freight volume with a month over month increase of 11 percent, despite February is a short month... Load postings were up 36 percent year over year. February 2011 freight volume was more than double that of February 2009, during the economic downturn... February 2011 volumes also reached the highest levels for the month since TransCore began recording the Canadian freight data in 2001... This mirrors the findings on TransCore’s North American Freight Index that recorded the highest spot market truckload freight volume for the month of February since the company established the North American Freight Index in 1986... However, with loads reaching an all time high, equipment continued to decline. Capacity dropped to the lowest level since 2005... (Image from move.rmi.org: truck freight streamline)

* North America surface trade way up in 2010

Washington,DC,USA -Today's Trucking (CAN) -18 March 2011: -- The value of North American surface trade was down, but the volume was way up in 2010, compared to 2009 levels, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation...  Surface transportation trade between the U.S. and its North American Free Trade Agreement partners Canada and Mexico jumped a record 24.3 percent in 2010, the department said...  The increase was the largest since the DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics began tracking the data in 1994 but the $791 billion value of NAFTA surface trade remained below pre-recession levels of 2007 and 2008...  U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade totaled $471 billion in 2010, an increase of 22.1 percent. The value of imports carried by truck from Canada was 17.3 percent higher in 2010 than 2009 while the value of exports carried by truck rose 21.8 percent...  Surface transportation trade between the U.S. and Mexico totaled $320.3 billion, up 27.6 percent. Truck imports rose 26.5 percent while exports rose 24.3 percent...  In 2010, 86.2 percent of U.S. merchandise trade by value with Canada and Mexico moved on land. Total North American surface transportation trade value in 2010 increased by 13.4 percent compared to 2005, and was up by 37.5 percent compared to 2000, a period of 10 years...

Spot Market * USA - Truck Index Hits Historic High

Demand shoots up 38 percent in February as capacity drops

Hummelstown,PENN,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Mar 15, 2011: ...  TransCore says Spot market truckload freight volume rose 38 percent in February from the previous month and 65 percent from a year ago, according to TransCore...  February's volume level was the highest for that month reported since TransCore founded its North American Freight Index in 1986, the company said...  Flatbed volume jumped 44 percent from January, while dry van freight increased 38 percent and refrigerated freight traffic rose 30 percent...  The dry van load-to-truck ratio was up 64 percent from January and 85 percent from a year ago... (Photo from personalspaceministorage)

* USA - NAFTA Trade Jumped Record 24.3 Percent in 2010

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online Peter T. Leach  -Mar 17, 2011:  --   Value under pre-recession level after largest increase since 1994...  Surface transportation trade between the U.S. and its North American Free Trade Agreement partners Canada and Mexico jumped a record 24.3 percent in 2010, the Transportation Department said...  The increase was the largest since the DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics began tracking the data in 1994 but the $791 billion value of NAFTA surface trade remained below pre-recession levels of 2007 and 2008...  The DOT said the value of NAFTA imports moving by surface trade, principally truck, increased 25.1 percent last year while exports rose 23.3 percent...

TRUCKING STATISTICS * USA - US Freight Index Climbs 0.9 Percent in January

Second consecutive monthly gain, largest annual increase since 2002

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Thomas L. Gallagher -Mar 9, 2011: --   Freight transportation movements in the U.S. increased for the second consecutive month in January, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics...   DOT’s Freight Transportation Services Index rose 0.9 percent in January from a revised December level. The Freight TSI rose 6.4 percent in 2010 based on revised numbers, compared to the 0.4 percent annual increase reported in the February release. The 6.4 percent rise was the largest annual increase in the Freight TSI since 2002...  The Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in freight shipments in ton-miles, which are then combined into one index. The index measures the output of the for-hire freight transportation industry and consists of data from for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight...

* USA - Index Shows Truckload Demand Rising. Capacity tightens in Southeast as produce shipping grows

New York,NY,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Mar 10, 2011: -- A key measure of truckload demand jumped 18.9 percent week over week in early March, signaling tightening capacity as the nation and the economy warm up...  Longbow Research's Truckload Barometer rose to 164.5 for the week ending March 11 from 138.4 the prior week, hitting its highest level since mid-2010...  The research firm's barometer measures the amount of available freight relative to current levels of available equipment, climbing as capacity gets tighter...  Year-over-year, the barometer is up 97.2 percent, and the index has risen 49.7 percent since the beginning of 2011, the investment research firm said Wednesday...  The March spike in part stems from the start of the produce season in the Southeast, which consumes available truckload capacity, Longbow Research said...  Longbow's Flatbed Barometer also climbed, rising 2.9 percent week-over-week in its eighth consecutive weekly increase to its highest level in two years...

Transport Market Monitor * The Netherlands - Transport prices up by 7.9 % in 2010

Nijmegen Area,Netherlands -Fleet Europe, by Claude Yvens -22 Feb 2011: -- According to the 6th edition of Transport Market Monitor, a transport price observatory produced by Capgemini Consulting and Transporeon; the platform handles a yearly transport volume of over €2 billion in all European countries; transport prices rose by 7.9% in 2010. They did not climb back to 2008 levels, however. The figures come from an analysis of transactions recorded on the Transporeon platform and are therefore more a reflection of spot transactions than long term contracts...    Prices reached their highest levels in July 2010, indexed at 104.3 compared to the beginning of 2008. During the fourth quarter they would appear to have increased by 0.4%, when the capacity index fell slightly...  According to the study’s authors, prices are set to fall during the first quarter of this year, before rising again during the following quarters, discounting seasonal effects: for the past three years, the index has fallen in January and February, risen in March and October, dropped in November and climbed back in December…

TRANSPORT STATISTICS * Europa - Freight Forwarding Index: road segment holding up

Copenhagen,Denmark -Truck Europe, by Michel Buckinx -2 Dec 2010: -- The European Freight Forwarding index published by Danske Bank shows a decrease for the month of December, down from 64 to 56. This drop is essentially due to the air and sea segments, with road holding up relatively well. Overall, the European freight market is set to end the year in negative mode. This demonstrates the uncertainty which currently reigns over the European market. The Euro crisis is believed to be behind this situation...

* UK - Transport prices stagnant according to Transport Market Monitor

London,UK -Truck Europe, by Michel Buckinx -26 Nov 2010: -- The 5th edition of the Transport Market Monitor from Transporeon and Capgemini Consulting indicates that transport prices, which had been following an upwards curve over the first six months of 2010, stagnated during the third quarter (up 0.8%). Transport prices are still at a level some 2% lower than they were in the third quarter of 2008. Amongst explanations for this is an increase in available transport capacity following a period of capacity reduction...

TRANSPORT STATISTICS * USA - DOT Freight Transportation Index Rises 3.2%

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics -8 Dec 2010: -- The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index rose 3.2% in October from a year earlier, the 10th straight year-over-year gain, DOT said Wednesday...  The freight TSI notched a 0.2% gain from September to a reading of 98.9, DOT’s Bureau of Trade Statistics said in its monthly report...  Despite the increase, the index it remains the lowest level for an October since 2001, when it was at 98.7...  The TSI, which uses 2000 as a base-year reading of 100, is a seasonally adjusted monthly index measuring the output of services provided by the for-hire transportation industries, including railroad, air, truck, inland waterways, pipeline and local transit...

STATISTICS * USA - Freight Index Increases 2.8 Percent in November

Cass measure returns to growth after brief downturn in October

Bridgeton, MO ,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online -Dec 1, 2010: -- The Cass Freight Index for shipments expanded 2.8 percent in November from the month before as the key measure of domestic shipping demand recovered from a brief downturn... The month-to-month increase followed a 5.2 percent drop in October that marked the second sequential decline in four months amid other signs of a wavering economic recovery... The shipments index remained below its 2010 high set in September but it signaled the recovery still had momentum late into the fourth quarter, growing 14.9 percent year-over-year for the second straight month... The expenditures side of the index also edged upward after slipping the month before, growing 0.7 percent on a month-to-month basis... A combination of greater demand and higher prices helped push the November expenditures index up 24.6 percent over the same month a year ago...