Trans Am Still

Hope the weather conditions aren't too bad, jaso. I know you can handle the truck fine even so, but I'd think it is still stressful and causes you to become tired more quickly than normal. Have a good day!

 

I don't think the changes in format have helped us any, jungHO. I also think that we just go through slow times on the forum. It should be a busy time for those that are meat haulers. This is the beginning of the "carnivore carnival", as the King always called it. Graduations, vacations, family reunions and BBQ season is coming up......hopefully that means everyone is going to be getting some nice miles!

 

I think k that we've had the adorable conversation before. That's a word reserved for babies. I'll admit to being childish at times but............

Our queen lucked out but cranky didn't. Found the perfect GIF, of our queen doing a "bump and grind". Could figure out how to post it here for cranky.

And BTW, if I ever do find the "right one", won't be any of this catch and release stuff, will be forever, or the 25 years left in have to live.

 

Pffffft .......the Queen does not bump and grind .....nor does she twerk. She can, however, cause misery and mayhem.... I am old and old school.

Alright .....you are officially no longer adorable , such a shame I liked it when you were adorable. And please try not to corrupt passport.

 

In Palm Springs CA at the Peelot waiting, once again to pickup my load in Colton, tonight. Delivers on Sat at 0300 in Las Lunas NM at Walmart. Then onto Cactus TX with a meat load to drop at the yard in Olathe then get flown back to Dallas to get my truck MAYBE.

 

The vast $700 billion US trucking industry, with its 3.4 million drivers who hauled 10 billion tons last year -- 69% of the nation's freight -- is an early warning system for the overall economy. And it's been making the wrong rumbling sounds.


Rates for intermodal containers by rail dropped on a year over year basis in January, February, and March, according to the Cass Intermodal Price Index by Cass Information Systems. April hasn't been released yet. Cass tried to explain the March decline this way: railroads were facing weaker demand and losing pricing power as shippers were shifting loads to trucks because diesel has gotten cheaper.

But spot rates for tractor-trailers started dropping in April. It triggered all kinds of explanations at the time, for example, in the Journal of Commerce:

"Rather than a sign of underlying economic weakness, the softening spot market may indicate shippers are finding the trucking capacity they need, for now, with contractual partners."

Given the exuberance of record year 2014, carriers have added lots of new trucks to replace older equipment and to expand capacity. Swift Transportation , the largest U.S. truckload carrier, added over 900 trucks over the past three quarters, with more to come in 2015. J.B. Hunt added over 1,085 tractors in 2014. Smaller carriers added equipment as well. But by mid-April, the phrase "excess capacity" started cropping up.

In reality, over-the-road shipping volumes fell 5% in March from the prior year. It seemed like a fluke. But in April, according to the just released Cass Freight Index, shipping volumes fell again, this time by 2.5%. The index for shipping expenditures fell 3.5% in March and 4.7% in April.

We know the first quarter was crummy. But April is in the second quarter. This weakness is now infecting it as well. That's what the trucking industry is saying.

There are numerous reasons why this might be happening, including the $110-billion inventory buildup during the first quarter. Businesses will eventually whittle it down by trimming their orders. And sales continue to be lousy. For example, retail sales in April inched up only 0.9% year over year. That's less than the rate of inflation. So in terms of shipping volume, it marks a down month.

The trucking business is an early thermometer of the real economy. Things might turn around on a dime. There might be a sudden surge of sales that will propel the economy to escape velocity. But we doubt it, and we'll keep listening to the truckers for more clues going forward.

When the People's Bank of China spoke of "big downward pressure," it wasn't kidding.

 

Bet they will still say there is a driver shortage even though they are saying they have excess capacity.

 

I didn't write the article, I just threw it out there for discussion.
Yes, I read another article that said they still predict that they will be 300,000 drivers short over the next 5 years.
I actually believe the premise of this article is off the mark. I think that the slow down in retail sales and freight for the first quarter is due more to the fact that they had predicted a much milder winter overall this last year. Because of that they stocked a different type of merchandise.....based on recreation and not on need .....and folks were looking to buy what they had to have. They simply did not have the things that people wanted to buy.