TRUCKING STATISTICS * USA - NAFTA Surface Trade Posts Record Value

Trade hit $80.8 billion in March, up 15 percent year-over-year

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Joseph Bonney -May 31, 2011: -- The value of surface transportation trade between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico hit a record $80.8 billion in March, a year-over-year gain of 15.6 percent, the Transportation Department reported... It was the highest monthly total since 1994, when the DOT began collecting data on trade with the United States’ partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement. The statistics are not adjusted for inflation... Freight value in March rose 21.5 percent from February... Trucks carry more than 85 percent of the value of U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico. U.S.-Canada surface transportation trade totaled $48.7 billion, up 15.7 percent from March 2010. U.S.-Mexico volumes amounted to $32.1 billion, up 15.3 percent...

TRUCKING STATISTICS * USA - Truck Tonnage Rises 4.8% in April

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics -25 May 2011: -- Truck tonnage rose 4.8% in April from a year ago, American Trucking Associations said in its monthly seasonally adjusted for-hire truck tonnage report...  Month-to-month, the index decreased 0.7% in April...  The index came in at a reading of 114.9, down from 115.6 in March, with the year 2000 as a baseline reading of 100. January’s 116.6 reading had been the highest in three years...  ATA Chief Economist, Bob Costello, said he expects economic activity, along with truck freight levels, to grow moderately in coming months...  ATA calculates the tonnage each month based on reports by its member trucking companies...

* Truckload Rates 'Firm' Despite Falling Loads

New York,NY,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -May 25, 2011: -- Truckload carriers are holding onto rate increases despite a decline in truck tonnage and loads, according to a report from Jefferies Equity Research Americas... Despite slower load growth, dry van truckload pricing jumped 9.6 percent in March, compared with an 8.1 percent gain from a year ago in February, Jefferies said... Tonnage was up in March, but growth in truckloads decelerated from a 4.1 percent year-over-year increase in February to 1.7 percent in March, the research firm said... Truckload revenue per mile, net of fuel, was up 6.2 percent in March... Jefferies said American Trucking Associations data show rates for loads shipped fewer than 500 miles were down 3.9 percent year-over-year in March... The seasonally adjusted ATA For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index dropped 0.7 percent in April after climbing 1.9 percent in March. Durable goods shipments also declined... While some analysts argue a looming capacity crunch will drive up rates, Nesvold said sustained price increases will depend more on higher truckload demand...

TRUCKING STATISTICS * WORLDWIDE

Global Transport and logistics revenues rebound 15%

London,EN,UK -Road Transport, by Chris Druce -13 May 2011: -- Global transport and logistics revenues rebounded 15% last year to $197.8bn (£121.20bn), according to a new report by consultancy Transport Intelligence (TI)...  However, this means that, in real terms, industry revenues have barely shifted from the 2007 levels...  The newly published Global Transport &Logistics Sector Leaders 2011, which tracks 19 listed players in the field including DHL, Wincanton and Kuehne + Nagel, also found that industry profit margins remain perilously thin at less than 5%...  The report states that haulage, more so than any other part of the transport sector, suffered a major decline in profitability in the recent recession and is yet to truly recover...

TRUCKING STATISTICS * USA - DOT Freight Transport Index Rises 4.8%

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics -11 May 2011: -- The Department of Transportation’s freight transportation services index for March rose 4.8% from a year ago, to the highest level since July 2008, DOT said Wednesday... The freight TSI rose 1.9% from February, the department said in its monthly report... Freight shipments have increased in 17 of the past 23 months but are down 2.1% in the five years from March 2006... The March index rose to a reading of 108.6, which compares with the peak reading of 113.3 set in January 2005. DOT uses a reading of 100 from the year 2000 as a baseline reading... The TSI measures the output of the for-hire freight transportation industry including trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight...

* Truckload Capacity Seen Tightening

Independence,OH,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -May 10, 2011: -- Four-week slide in barometer index ends, capacity 17 percent tighter than year ago...  The weekly Longbow Research Truckload Barometer increased 1.3 percent last week, ending a month-long drop in April, indicating tighter availability of trucks in parts of the U.S., the investment research firm said Tuesday...  The barometer was up 46 percent year-over-year April 11 and is now up 17 percent from a year ago, indicating that demand and supply are closer to equilibrium...  The weekly index measures available freight against available truckload equipment, climbing higher as capacity contracts, the Wall Street investment firm said... 

* USA - Intermodal Volume Rises 9% in First Quarter

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics -13 May 2011: -- Intermodal traffic volume rose 9% in the first quarter, the fifth straight year-over-year increase, the Intermodal Association of North America said Friday... International container volume rose 9.6% in the quarter to 1.76 million units, IANA said in a statement... Domestic container volume increased 8.8% to 1.12 million units, slightly below the fourth-quarter’s 8.9% year-to-year rise... Trailer volume rose 7.5% to about 412,000 units, and 53-foot trailers jumped 21.7%, the biggest such increase since the first quarter of 2005... Railroad volume is considered an important economic indicator. Intermodal traffic, which tends to be higher-valued merchandise than bulk commodities, uses trains for the long haul and trucks for the shorter distance at either end of the trip...  (Photo from farm4.static.flickr)

* UCLA-Ceridian Trucking Index Drops 0.5 Percent

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -May 13, 2011: -- April’s decline followed ‘exceptional’ March gain in fuel-based index... The Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index fell 0.5 percent in April after rising 2.7 percent in March, underscoring what the index sponsors called a “fitful” recovery... The index also showed shipping increased in the “heavily trucked” Midwest but declined elsewhere, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic and East North Central states... The fuel-based index rose 3.5 percent year-over-year in April, its 17th consecutive month of growth, the UCLA Anderson School of Management and Ceridian said... The Ceridian-UCLA index rose 3.6 percent year-over-year in March and 1.8 percent in February, and has been rising on an annualized basis since December 2009... The index is based on trucker fuel purchases paid for using Ceridian’s electronic card network. Ceridian and UCLA track the location and volume of fuel purchased...

* Truck Market Tightens for Shippers, Index Shows

Nashville,IN,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -May 13, 2011: -- Truck capacity, costs creating ‘difficult’ environment for shippers, FTR says...  Market conditions are worsening for U.S. shippers as truck capacity tightens and fuel prices and surcharges rise, an index released by FTR Associates shows...  The FTR Shippers’ Condition Index dropped 48 percent from minus-7.7 in February to minus-11.4 in March. Any index number below zero is unfavorable to shippers...  At the same time, FTR’s Trucking Conditions Index has been rising, climbing 34 percent in the same period to 13.30, the company said...  Any reading above zero indicates an “adequate” environment for truckers, FTR said, and a reading above 10 signals prices, volumes and margins are “in a good range” ...  Normal seasonal weakness early in the first quarter obscured the shifting supply and demand balance in trucking, said Eric Starks, president of FTR...

* Truck Spot Market Volume Slipped in April

Hummelstown,PENN,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -May 17, 2011: --  TransCore’s North American Freight Index fell 14 percent in April from March, when the index reached its highest level since 2005 after three months of posting record numbers...  Spot market truckload volume in the U.S. and Canada, as measured by the TransCore index, rose 23 percent in March from February and 40 percent year-over-year...  Despite the drop in April, the index, which measures truck freight movements on the spot market, is still 12 percent higher than it was in April 2010, TransCore said...  That indicates the economy is still advancing, though perhaps at a slower pace...  TransCore noted that both spot market load volume and truck capacity declined in April, with the load-to-truck ratio dropping three weeks in a row by April 30...

TRUCKING STATISTICS * USA - UCLA-Ceridian Trucking Index Rises 2.7 Percent

March increase in fuel-based index points to moderate recovery, economist says 

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Apr 12, 2011: --  Stronger freight demand in March pushed the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index up 2.7 percent month-to-month, reversing declines in January and February... The PCI, which tracks the volume and location of diesel fuel purchased by truckers, is the latest index to suggest freight demand may be leading the recovery... Freight shipments rose 6.9 percent in March, according to the Cass Freight Index, while freight payments rose 6.3 percent, said Cass Information Systems...  The 2.7 percent monthly increase in the Ceridian-UCLA index in March more than offset a 0.3 percent decline in January and 1.5 percent decline in February...  The PCI is up 3.9 percent for the first quarter of 2011 from the last quarter of 2010...  The March PCI was up 3.7 percent compared with March 2010...  The UCLA-Ceridian index is still forecasting 3 percent gross domestic product growth for the first quarter, lower than some Wall Street forecasts, Leamer said...

* USA - Truck Broker Loads Rose 10 Percent in 2010

Hummelstown,PENN,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Apr 14, 2011: -- More shippers turned to brokers as truck capacity tightened, TransCore says... Truck freight brokers moved 10 percent more loads per month in 2010 than in 2009, underscoring growing use of brokers by shippers, according to TransCore... The average number of brokered loads per month rose from 616 in 2009 to 685 in 2010, with average margins ranging from 14.6 percent to 15 percent... Brokers paid more to move that freight for customers, however, and found it increasingly hard to locate and secure truckload capacity, TransCore said... The average spot market line haul rate for dry van trailers rose to $1.23 per mile, a 9.8 percent increase over 2009, according to TransCore's Broker Benchmark Survey... The average contract rate for the same equipment rose much more moderately last year, climbing only 1.2 percent from $1.39 to $1.41 per mile, the study said...

* USA - Spot Market Truck Rates Jump 4 Percent

Hummelstown,PENN,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Apr 14, 2011: -- Truckload spot rates seen rising in March as freight demand outstripped capacity...  Spot market truckload rates rose 4 percent in March from February and were up 15 percent year-over-year, according to TransCore Freight Solutions...  Dry van spot market rates were up across the country, TransCore said, led by prices in Denver, Los Angeles and Stockton, Calif...  Truck pricing is chasing shipping demand as the economic recovery quickens its pace. The Cass Freight Index reported freight shipments rose 6.9 percent in March...  The company matches more than 60 million loads and trucks a year...  Load posts on TransCore's network increased 42 percent in March from February, and were up 61 percent from March 2010, the company said...  Spot market capacity actually jumped 10 percent in March after months of contraction, but rising demand pushed the load-to-truck ratio up to 10 to 1...

* USA -  Truckload Capacity Index Drops 1.4 Percent

Independence,OH,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Apr 14, 2011: -- 'Moderation' follows 5.9 percent jump, indicating tightening capacity... Truckload capacity slackened slightly in the week ending April 11 but is still much tighter than it was a year ago, according to a key measure of capacity and demand... The Longbow Research Weekly Trucking Barometer dropped 1.4 percent last week after shooting up 5.9 percent the prior week, the investment research firm said... The truckload capacity index has increased 47.4 percent since the beginning of 2011 and is up 46 percent year-over-year, an indication that capacity is contracting... The weekly index measures available freight against available truckload equipment, climbing higher as capacity contracts, the Wall Street investment firm said...

* USA - Intermodal Traffic Gains 12.4% for Week

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics -15 April 2011: -- Intermodal traffic grew 12.4% last week compared from a year ago, the Association of American Railroads reported...  Traffic increased to 228,713 units for the week ended Saturday, AAR said in its weekly report. Trailers rose 13% to 33,772 units, while containers increased 12.2% to 194,941 units...  Railroad carloads excluding intermodal showed a 1.8% gain to 293,798 carloads, AAR said...  Railroad volume is considered an important economic indicator. Intermodal traffic, which tends to be higher-valued merchandise than bulk commodities, uses trains for the long haul and trucks for the shorter distance at either end of the trip...

TRUCKING STATISTICS * USA - Truckload Capacity Eases, Index Shows

Longbow index down almost 6 percent in March, up 41 percent since January

New York,NY,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Mar 30, 2011: -- The Longbow Research Truckload Barometer dropped less than 1 percent this week, indicating the contraction of truckload capacity is slowing... Truckload capacity appears to have leveled and even loosened slightly after shrinking fast in the first months of 2011, according to the research firm's index... Since January, the index has risen 41.1 percent. The index measures available freight against available equipment, climbing as capacity contracts... Year-over-year, the barometer is up nearly 80 percent, Longbow said March 29. The index dropped to 155.1 this week from 156.4, 155.8 and 164.5 in prior weeks...

TRUCKING STATISTICS * USA - January Truck Tonnage Hits 3-Year High

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics -23 Feb 2011: -- Truck tonnage grew 8% in January from a year ago to its highest level in three years, American Trucking Associations said Wednesday... The upturn, which was the largest since April, left the index at a reading of 117.1, ATA said in its monthly seasonally adjusted for-hire truck tonnage report. The index uses the year 2000 as its baseline reading of 100. It was the highest level since January 2008... January’s index gained 3.8% from December, and ATA revised December’s monthly increase to 2.5%, from a previously reported 2.2%... For all of 2010, tonnage increased 5.7% compared with the previous year. It had dropped 8.7% in 2009... ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said: "The report shows the economy is growing, and he expects a good first half of 2010 in tonnage..."

* USA - NAFTA Surface Trade Rises 13.8%

Washington,DC,USA -Transport Topics -1 March 2011: -- Surface transportation trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico rose 13.8% in December from a year earlier, the Department of Transportation said Tuesday...  Trade among the North American Free Trade Agreement partners increased to $66.5 billion, DOT’s Bureau of Trade Statistics said in its monthly report...  U.S.-Canada trade rose 12.2% year-over-year to $39.8 billion. The value of truck imports to the U.S. rose 17.5%, while truck exports improved 10.4%...  U.S.-Mexico trade improved 16.3% to $26.8 billion. Truck imports were 16.3% higher than a year ago and exports rose 18.7%...   Surface transportation consists largely of freight movements by truck, rail and pipeline. Almost 90% of U.S. trade among NAFTA partners moves by land...

TRUCKING STATISTICS * USA & Canada - Spot Truck Demand Soared in December

* USA - TransCore Freight Index rose 55 percent in strong finish to 2010

Hummelstown,PA,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Jan 17, 2011: -- The spot market for truckload freight surged 55 percent year-over-year in December, according to the TransCore North American Freight Index...  Month-to-month, spot market volume increased 0.2 percent from November, indicating freight demand remained stable in the last months of 2010...  The increase in TransCore's index shows retailers kept trucks moving right through the holiday season, replenishing inventory throughout December...  Demand measured by the December spot market index was 215 percent higher than two years ago. The index is down about 32 percent from its high point this April, when tight capacity and a surge in inventory restocking sent rates rocketing...  Dry van spot market rates remained stable, TransCore said, reflecting high demand for freight services and concerns about potential capacity shortages...  The national average refrigerated rates softened 3.3 percent, and flatbed spot rates slipped by one cent, which is normal for the season, TransCore said...

* USA - Truckload Carrier Sees Strong December Demand. Titan Transfer says late surge belies usual seasonal trends

Shelbyville,TN,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online -Jan 18, 2011: -- Truckload carrier Titan Transfer saw its strongest freight demand of the fourth quarter in December, a sharp change from normal seasonal trends that suggests pent-up shipping demand in the U.S. heading into the 2011... Truckload demand usually peaks mid-way through the fourth quarter and then winds down as retailers look to sell existing inventory and move toward expedited services to fill in late demand. But Titan’s report of strong demand later in the year fits in with reports from railroads and container ship carriers that saw demand stay at a relatively high level late in the year, raising hopes for unusually strong business in the normally slow first quarter...

TRUCKING STATISTICS * USA & Canada - 6.2 Million Trucks Cross Eastern US-Canada Border

Cross-border trade grew at a healthy pace in 2010, say bridge operators

(Video by rainmosq -17 April 2009: The end of our journey)

Michigan,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by R.G. Edmonson -Dec 14, 2010:  --  A total of 6.2 million trucks crossed the eastern U.S.-Canada border so far in 2010, with growth across all 10 bridges...  Traffic including passenger vehicles grew 5.7 percent year to date compared with 2009, according to the Public Border Operators Association, a trade group of bridge and tunnel operators in Michigan and New York. Some 32.5 million vehicles crossed the border at 10 bridges and one tunnel since the beginning of 2010...  The three principal crossings for international trade all showed year-to-date increases. Some 2.1 million trucks crossed the Ambassador Bridge at Detroit, a 17.8 percent increase. The Blue Water Bridge at Port Huron, Mich., tallied 1.3 million trucks, a 9 percent increase. The Peace Bridge at Buffalo, N.Y., carried 1.1 million trucks, a 10.4 percent increase over the same period in 2009...  A total for 60,029 trucks, buses and miscellaneous vehicles so far this year have crossed the Seaway International Bridge between Massena, N.Y., and Cromwell, Ont., a 21.1 percent increase over 2009. Truck traffic was virtually flat at the Lewiston-Queenstown Bridge near Niagara Falls with 626,358 trucks crossing since the first of the year...  The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel was the only site to show a year-to-date decline with 51,871 trucks, down 2 percent from 2009...

* USA - Cass Freight Index:  November’s freight expenditures and shipments both increased from the previous month’s activity

Bridgeton,MO,USA -Cass Information System Inc. -15 Dec 2010: -- Monthly year-over-year and month-to-month percent change in Cass Freight Index for freight expenditures...  The November index was up 24.6 percent year-over-year and 42.5 percent higher than the April 2009 index nadir. However, the velocity of year-over-year growth has slowed in this measure of U.S. spending for the third consecutive month... CIS have developed a monthly Volume Index of Freight Expenditures and Shipments that is based upon transportation dollars and shipments of Cass clients. The index is comprised of shippers throughout the United States who participate in the Cass Information Systems Payment Service. Over 1,200 divisions of 400 unique companies representing a broad spectrum of the SIC categories contribute data to the index. Freight expenses, for the index base, consist of participating shippers with volumes ranging from $50,000 to over $500,000,000 annually. This diversity of shippers and range of volume provides a statistically valid cross-sampling of industries in the United States...

* USA  / DC - November 2010. Producer Price Index Report

Washington,DC,USA -Bloomberg, by Kristy Scheuble - Dec 14, 2010: -- The following is the text of the U.S. producer price report for Nov. released by the Labor Department... Transportation and warehousing industries: The Producer Price Index for the Net Output of Transportation and Warehousing Industries moved up 0.2 percent in November following a 1.2- percent increase in the prior month. The main factor in the November advance was a 1.6-percent rise in prices received by the long-distance general freight trucking industry group. The industry indexes for deep sea freight transportation and for used household and office goods moving also contributed to the increase in prices received by transportation and warehousing industries...

STATISTICS * USA - Upswing in Commercial Vehicle, Trailer Registrations

Polk found new commercial vehicle registrations up 9.6%

Detroit,MICH,USA -AutoRemarketing -December 2, 2010: -- Polk reports used commercial vehicle registrations hit record. Class 3-8 used vehicle registrations hit 524,500 units for 1st 9 months of 2010. That's up 18.7% over same period last year... All totaled, commercial vehicle registrations hit 794,200 units, up 15.5%... Polk says record numbers create aftermarket opportunities, especially Class 8... Polk analysts also report new trailer registrations up 42.2% to 76,125 units. These numbers include trailers 24 feet or longer. Market strongly influenced by dry and refrigerated van trailers... Information part of Polk Commercial Vehicle Market Intelligence Report, includes information on Canadian, global heavy commercial markets...

* DC - Freight Index Climbed 0.2 Percent in October

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Joseph Bonney -Dec 8, 2010: -- TSI rose for 13th time in 17 months but remained down for the year... The Transportation Department’s Freight Transportation Services Index climbed 0.2 percent in October from its September level, rising for the 13th time in 17 months... The Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in freight shipments in ton-miles of freight moved in for-hire trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight. Trucking makes up the majority of the seasonally adjusted index... The October reading pushed the index 5.7 percent over its June 2009 low, which was 15.3 percent below the pre-recession level of August 2008. Through the first 10 months of 2010, however, the index declined 0.7 percent. The October Freight TSI is down 12.4 percent from its historic peak of 112.9 reached in May 2006...