The Cass Freight Report for April was released this week and it showed shipment volumes were down modestly versus March, while rates were mixed.
The monthly report from Cass and partner Tim Denoyer of ACT Research is based on data from the billions of dollars of freight bills that Cass pays for its shipper clients.
The Cass shipments index, which covers several modes but is weighed towards full truckload, fell 1.6% in April versus March in seasonally adjusted terms. For reasons unclear, this month’s report does not include the change in shipments in April versus the same month in 2023.
Weighing on freight volumes: the report says that “for-hire fleets likely still are seeing soft demand because of significant private fleet capacity additions in the past couple of years,” adding that private fleets are now more actively competing for spot freight to fill empty backhauls, lengthening below-trend for-hire demand levels.
The expenditures component of the Cass Freight Index, which measures the total amount spent on freight, was unchanged in April versus March, but down 17% year-over-year.
Another look at rates comes from the Cass Linehaul Index, which measures US per mile truckload rates before fuel surcharge and other accessorials.
In April, the index was basically flat versus March, rising a meager 0.1%.
There was again a year-over-year fall in truckload rates, down 3.8%, but the size of the decrease continues to narrow.
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The linehaul index now stands at 141.0, meaning contract truckload rates are up 41% versus the baseline month of January 2005 (index =100), or an average annual increase of just 1,88% over that time.
On the overall state of the freight market, Denoyer writes that “some pockets of tightness are appearing in reefer and flatbed markets, but… the truckload market is still well-supplied.”
On rates, Denoyer observes that “With spot rates stabilizing over the past several months, downward pressure on the larger contract market is lessening, with a few instances of contract rate increases bucking the downtrend of late.”
He adds that currently, “the freight growth being generated by the economy is being handled by railroads and private fleets,” reducing upward pressures on trucking rates.
Each month, Cass nicely summarizes the state of freight, as seen in the graphic below for April:
Source: Cass Information System
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