Trucking
DAT Freight And Analytics March 7, 2023
Spot market volumes spiked last week, as the typical end-of-month surge in shipments was met with winter storms in the western half of the country, resulting in tighter capacities and impacting California outbound rates.
DAT Freight And Analytics Dean Croke March 7, 2023
Load-to-Truck Ratio (LTR)
Dry van load posts surged last week as the final shipping week of the month pushed more volume into the market. Volumes increased by 19% w/w – the most significant w/w gain this year, although loads posts are still around half of what they were the previous
year. Capacity tightened slightly following a 4% w/w decrease in carrier equipment posts to around the same level as last year. With a surge in volume and drop in carrier posts last week, the dry van load-to-truck ratio (LTR) bounced back to 2.83, representing
an increase of 24% w/w.
Industry
Logistics Management Brian Straight March 7, 2023
Despite the instability that first reared its head during COVID-19 and continued with the disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the greatest pressures on the supply chain are not the headline grabbing news events, but rather more common problems:
labor and freight costs.
Granted, freight costs encompass a myriad of inputs, including the aforementioned events. But when combined with labor challenges, the two categories contribute to 92% of the supply chain stress being felt today.
That is the finding of the second Supply Chain Stability Index, a joint venture between the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) and KPMG, the U.S. firm of the KPMG global organization of independent professional services firm.
Link: Association Of Supply Management and KPMG
Supply Chain Stability Index
Logistics Managers’ Index March 7, 2023
Transportation Prices are down (-5.9) to 36.1, which is the lowest reading for this metric in the 6.5 year of the LMI. After Transportation Prices increased in January, we had postulated that this could be a sign of recovery in the transportation market. It
seems now that was not necessarily the case. While the freight recovery has not yet begun, it does seem that we may have hit, or at least gotten close to, the bottom of the market. Old Dominion reported a “stabilization” of their LTL business in a recent investor
call. While February was down for firms like OD and Saia, the severity of the month-over-month drop from January is likely more due to December loads that poor weather forced into January than due to a huge drop in February demand. Despite the slowness seen
so far in 2023, many carriers still believe that orders will pick up again soon as retailers begin building their inventories back up.
The Wall Street Journal Collin Eaton And Benoit Morenne March 8, 2023
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The boom in oil production that over the last decade made the U.S. the world’s largest producer is waning, suggesting the era of shale growth is nearing its peak.
Frackers are hitting fewer big gushers in the Permian Basin, America’s busiest oil patch, the latest sign they have drained their catalog of good wells. Shale companies’ biggest and best wells are producing less oil, according to data reviewed by The Wall Street
Journal.
Shippers/3PLs
Supply Chain Dive Ben Unglesbee March 7, 2023
• Inventory management has become an advantage for Macy’s even in a tough retail environment, according to analysts and company executives.
• Macy’s CFO Adrian Mitchell pointed to inventory productivity as a “value creation lever” for Macy’s in a call with analysts last week. “We made significant progress in leveraging data and analytics to better forecast sales demand, receipt timing and flow
across the supply chain,” he said.
• The company’s inventory levels declined 3% last year and have fallen 18% compared to 2019. Inventory turnover, while down 4% last year, improved by 15% since 2019, Mitchell said.
Government/Safety/Sustainability
CCJ Jeff Crissey March 7, 2023
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is closing a loophole in its Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse that makes it possible for a driver to have a drug or alcohol violation reported by another employer after a pre-employment query, but before the next
annual one. The news came during FMCSA Administrator Robin Hutcheson’s address to members of the Truckload Carriers Association at the organization’s Truckload 2023 meeting in Orlando Tuesday.
Transport Topics Noel Fletcher March 7, 2023
Furthermore, Hutcheson said, FMCSA is promoting automatic emergency braking and investing in technological research to make driving safer.
She cited mobile apps as good tools to help truckers see in real time where available parking spaces are located. FMCSA is funding a study with Texas A&M Transportation Institute, The University of Wisconsin-Madison and Parkunload to learn how truck drivers
use existing parking spaces along interstates and test a mobile parking app.
Hutcheson said driver retention is another important issue for the federal government. “The longer drivers are in the industry, the safer they become,” she noted.
Fox Business Madeline Coggins March 7, 2023
Some smaller trucking companies fear the additional costs for these environmentally friendly vehicles could push them out of the industry.
The EPA estimates the new requirements could cost an extra $8,304 per vehicle for a big rig with a heavy diesel engine, but those in the industry are preparing for the price to be higher.
John argued financial support from the government "would help" businesses curb some of the expenses associated with the new rule.
"We could use possibly tax rebates or some sort of grant [that] would help us out to help manage these new hurdles," John said. "And everything's becoming more stringent."
Heavy Duty Trucking David Cullen March 7, 2023
Trucking’s ongoing energy transition “will unfold with different technologies for different applications, which means there will be no one solution,” said Cummins President and CEO Jennifer Rumsey in her keynote address to the annual Green Truck Summit on March
7 in Indianapolis. The one-day conference is held alongside the Work Truck Show, which runs through March 10.
The Journal Of Commerce Teri Errico Griffis March 7, 2023
A trucker group has come out against the White House’s nomination of Julie Su as secretary of labor because of her support of the controversial California worker classification legislation AB5 while she was the state’s labor chief.
“Make no mistake, if Ms. Su were to advance the same policies that she championed in California, it would force hundreds of thousands of truckers to change their business model and put their livelihood in jeopardy,” the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
(OOIDA) said in a letter sent to all US senators.
Workforce
The Wall Street Journal Sarah Chaney Cambon And Lauren Weber March 8, 2023
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For now, demand remains strong. Women hold 66% of all jobs in leisure and hospitality, private education, health, and other services—large sectors of the labor market that are staffing up. Women’s employment in these sectors grew by 719,000 in the six months
ending in January, accounting for 38% of all private-sector job gains during that period.
Men account for a dominant share of jobs in many smaller sectors such as transportation and warehousing, manufacturing and construction. Those sectors surged earlier in the pandemic, as Americans snapped up homes, undertook renovations and shopped for goods
online, but have more recently slowed. The tech-heavy information sector, where men hold roughly 60% of positions, cut jobs for two straight months.
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