Is freight really the slowest in 20 years??

Thank you for posting that. I read it yesterday.

I tend to pay attention to journalists, you know, the folks that actually do a "pretrip" and do research before publication. Business Insider is a respected publication. I know it's popular to spout crap like "fake news", but good journalism has my respect.

We are in one of the longest economic expansions in history. Don't bet on it continuing. There are plenty of indicators, for those that pay attention, to the real possibility the economy is about to tank. It's not a matter of IF, but WHEN and how bad.

The tariff battle isn't helping. I still have a lot of friends supplying the retail sector from offshore sourcing. Major retailers have dialed WAY back on BTS (Back To School), Fall, and Holiday buys. Orders are getting cancelled. If major retailers are opting to dial back on available inventory to sell during the holidays, when they do over 50% of their annual sales, what will that do to the economy in general?

Add to this the huge hit farmers are taking. Bankruptcies are poised to skyrocket in that sector.

The banking and finance sector is now more exposed to risk than before 2008. This time it's in the form of highly leveraged debt held by companies too risky to secure normal business loans, not to expand revenue, but for mergers and acquisitions, paying shareholders, and handing out bonuses to management.

All in all the trucking industry will take a hit. The spot market rate has tanked. Plenty of contracts are up for renegotiation. Tighten your belts.

 

THIS!!!

I saw this article earlier today and was going post it in a separate thread but figured I'd read through this thread first since it's a related topic.

I am looking to start CDL school in July and hopefully get into regional tanker in the Houson, TX area so I'm wondering how this freight slow down is likely to affect that area?

 

Their Cass Freight Index chart doesn't really support their story.

 

Even so, it's clear that the economy/freight has slowed.
As a supplier to manufacturers for their processes we are a indicator of capacity and we are slow, since the first of the year.

 

It's almost like some people are hoping for a downturn in the economy, why I have no idea.

 

Because that would prove that Red Headed failed ...

 

Man, that seems odd. Hoping that someone fails to make a point is strange.

 

Best case dry van expect more live loads/unloads and less miles/hometime as a result. Expect delays and cancelled loads, drop and hooks turning into live loads.. customers WILL take advantage and weed out carriers who do not put up with their crap, switching D&H to live loads, refusing empties, not paying detention.. I have seen all of this firsthand last month in an area with strong freight lanes right after said huge company sent out a video announcing, "Freight is slowing".. be afraid.

 

One bright side to a down turn in our industry would be to weed out the over capacity. Remember wasn't it just a year ago Paccar and the like had a backlog of truck orders? Those trucks are now in fleets. Fleet owners have to make payments. Line haul rates are sliding. A down turn will weed out the weak companies. In the end there will be a lot of used trucks on the market with some low miles, for interested owner/operators.

 

Yeah because no one ever said anything like that from 2009-2016 LOL