We Need to Lead and Innovate our Way to a Business Recovery

We Need to Lead and Innovate our Way to a Business Recovery

5 years ago

As we watch the Covid-19 pandemic unfold, in real time, on our television and computer screens, we are observing major weaknesses in many of our essential institutions. Despite the warning from China at the beginning of this year, North Americans were unprepared for this pandemic. Before it even began, pandemic readiness work triggered by HIV […]

Shipper Strategies for 2020

5 years ago

In my previous blog (https://www.dantranscon.com/index.php/blog/entry/where-is-the-freight-transportation-industry-headed-in-2020), I outlined some of the forces shaping the freight transportation industry in 2020. This will likely be another year of upheaval. In brief, the current “manufacturing recession” is restraining freight volumes. There will likely be a removal of a glut of fleet equipment. This coupled with the ELD compliance requirements […]

Where is the Freight Transportation Industry Headed in 2020?

5 years ago

2019 in Review After the hot freight market and record profits of 2018, many trucking companies added trucks and drivers to keep up with the expected shippers’ capacity demands in 2019. An index published by the Institute for Supply Management dropped to 47.2 in December, the lowest reading since June 2009 and the fifth straight […]

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The Top Stories in Surface Transportation in 2019

5 years ago

Here is my annual recap of the major trends that shaped the Surface Transportation industry during the past year. 1. The Reboot – The Trucking Industry goes into a Freight Recession in 2019 After a booming first three quarters of 2018, the trucking industry contracted in the fourth quarter; by mid-April of 2019, it became […]

The 2019 Surface Transportation Summit will focus on the rapidly changing Canadian Freight Industry

5 years ago

The 2019 Surface Transportation Summit will take place at the International Centre in Toronto on October 16. Canada’s leading freight conference will try to make sense of the roller coaster that Canadian shippers and carriers have experienced over the past couple of years. Josh Nye, Senior Economist, Royal Bank of Canada, will kick off the […]

Freight Bids are Back in 2019

5 years ago

During the wild and woolly 2018, freight bid activity subsided as shippers searched for capacity wherever they could find it. As we have seen, 2018 was an anomaly, a one of a kind. As we pass the mid-point of 2019, the dynamics of the freight market have changed significantly from the prior year. Business […]

The Truckload Freight Industry in North America in 2019

5 years ago

There are approximately 540,000 truckload carriers registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the United States. These range from 1 truck to 20,000 truck fleets. The majority have less than 20 pieces of equipment in their fleets. These companies generated approximately $350 billion in revenue in 2018. Revenue/Tonnage Growth in 2018 Here […]

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Will Shippers and Carriers ever be able to Trust Each Other?

5 years ago

It is hard to believe that a decade has gone by since the Great Recession. Those of us in the Freight Transportation Industry at that time remember the sharp drop in business activity and freight volumes. This encouraged many shippers to conduct multiple freight bids during that period to use (abuse) their freight rate […]

Are We Heading Into Another Freight Recession?

6 years ago

Global Economic Outlook Early this month, the International Monetary Fund downgraded its outlook for growth in the United States, Europe, Japan and the overall global economy and pointed to heightened trade tensions as a key reason. U.S. trade talks with China continue without resolution, and there are indications that the rate of Chinese economic growth […]

The LTL Freight Industry in the United States and Canada in 2019

6 years ago

The following is my annual report on the state of the LTL Freight Industry in the United States and Canada. The Booming Freight Market of 2018 Strong economic growth and high employment in the United States and Canada, coupled with concerns over US tariffs and trade wars, and high truck utilization rates, propelled freight demand […]