Last week the Stifel Transportation & Logistics Research Group hosted a webinar event that featured two speakers from the Transportation Intermediaries Association, Mark Christos, TIA Board Member, Chair - 3PL Market Report and Robert Voltmann, President and CEO.  The two gentlemen presented some of the findings from their latest benchmarking report.  This data, supplied by a sample of TIA members, provides one indicator of how the transportation industry is performing.

The report looks at trends in truckload, intermodal and LTL shipping.  It also captures information on fuel related costs.  The current (first quarter 2013) report contained some interesting findings.

The percentage of transportation intermediaries offering LTL services has now increased to over 60 percent.  While LTL shipments represented 6 percent of TIA member revenues in 2010, this has gone up to 8 percent in 2012.  First quarter LTL revenues, among the TIA members reporting results, were up 6.5% year/year and compared to 4 percent increase for intermodal and 2.4 percent for truckload.  LTL profit margins were up 140 basis points year/year (1.4%) as compared to a 90 basis points drop for intermodal and a 70 basis points decline for over the road truckload.

LTL profit margins increased to 18.6 percent as compared to 10.0 percent for intermodal and 13.8 percent for truckload.  It was also interesting to note that small LTL players (e.g. less than $16 million in annual sales) experienced a 240 basis points increase in year/year profits while the very large LTL carriers (e.g. over $100 million in annual revenue) experienced a 200 basis points improvement.  The mid-size LTL carriers (e.g. $16 million to $100 million) suffered a 110 basis points decline in profit margins.  In one of their charts, one could see that the upward trend on LTL profit margins has been maintained since the fourth quarter of 2011. 

One of the TIA representatives noted that there are two developments that are creating a bit of an industry shakeout.  The new requirement for a freight broker to post a $75,000 surety bond is posing a challenge for some of the smaller players.  Anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that brokers moving less than 5 loads a day are finding the new environment most difficult to manage. 

The 2013 Surface Transportation Summit is scheduled for October 16 at the Mississauga Convention Centre.  This year’s event, co-hosted by Dan Goodwill & Associates and the Business Information Group, will focus on a range of topics of interest to Shippers and Carriers.

The first track will explore the economic outlook for 2014.   The Summit will be utilizing a new format this year.  The three speakers, a leading Canadian economist (Carlos Gomes, Scotia Capitol), a trucking company President (Doug Munro, Maritime-Ontario) and an industry consultant (Charles Clowdis, Global Insight) will share their knowledge and insights in a dialogue about the key factors that will drive the economy next year. 

This session will be followed by a CEO panel.  Each panelist will provide their perspective on where the transportation industry, or their segment of the industry, is heading.  The panel will consist of Wes Armour, President & CEO, Armour Transportation Systems, Jacquie Meyers, President, Meyers Transportation Services, Fabi Richenberger, President, Northbridge Insurance and Peter Harrison, AVP, CPCS.  This promises to be a thought-provoking session.

Following a short networking break, the next track will look at outsourcing fleet management to a third party.  The panel will consist of two individuals.  Angelo Sarracini, President of Bailey Metals, a large shipper, will talk about the process of evaluating the option of transferring the freight transportation work from an internal fleet to a dedicated fleet specialist.  Jeff Lindsey, the President and CEO of Canada Cartage, will outline the conversion process and highlight some of the Best Practices in Dedicated Fleet Management.

Intermodal transportation has long been a key component of long haul transportation, both domestic and cross-border.  Many shippers still don’t have a full understanding of how and when to use intermodal service in their supply chain strategy.  This track will feature a panel discussion among the executives of four companies that are all heavily engaged in this sector.  Keith Reardon, VP of Intermodal Services at CN Rail, Ron Tepper, Executive Chairman & CEO of Consolidated Fastfrate, Neil McKenna, Vice President of Intermodal Transportation, Canadian Tire and Barry O’Neil, Executive Vice President, Hub Group Canada, all experts in the field of intermodal transportation, will share their thoughts on the role and value of this service.

For the third consecutive year, Dan Goodwill & Associates and BIG Media, publishers of Truck News, Canadian Transportation & Logistics and MotorTruck Fleet Executive, will be co-hosting a Freight Transportation Conference. In prior years, separate conferences were organized for shippers and carriers. The 2012 Surface Transportation Summit (www.surfacetransportationsummit.com, #Tsptnsummit) will bring both groups together to foster dialogue and networking.

The 2012 Summit will take place on Wednesday, October 17 at the Capitol Banquet Centre that is located at the corner of Dixie Road and Courtneypark Drive in Mississauga. It will focus on all forms of road and rail freight transportation. Prior conferences were held in the spring and summer months. The switch to a fall date was made to provide the attendees with a “year in review” perspective on the past year and a look ahead to the New Year.

Carlos Gomes, Senior Economist at Scotiabank, will again kick off the conference and provide his insights on where the economy in general and transportation in particular are headed as we approach the New Year.

Carlos will be followed by a joint presentation from Lee Palmer, President, Palmer Marketing and me on Social Media in Transportation. The two speakers will:

• Review the fundamentals
• Address the big four social media and outline how they fit into a company’s core business strategies
• Show industry examples where they have been applied properly...and poorly
• Review first steps, associated costs and key benefits in the areas of brand building, customer retention and recruiting.