They Are Calling This A “Bloodbath” For The $800 Billion Trucking Industry As U.S. Economic Activity Dramatically Declines
The U.S. trucking industry has not experienced a downturn of this magnitude since the last financial crisis, and this is one of the clearest signs yet that the U.S. economy is steamrolling into a severe economic downturn. When economic activity is increasing, the trucking industry sees rising demand for their services and freight rates tend to go up. That is precisely what we witnessed in 2018, and truckers were hoping for more of the same in 2019. But when economic activity is on the decline, the trucking industry sees decreasing demand for their services and freight rates tend to go down. Unfortunately, the numbers that the U.S. trucking industry is reporting right now are absolutely abysmal. Freight rates have now fallen for six months in a row on a year-over-year basis, and according to Business Insider during the month of May loads on the spot market fell “by a chilling 62.6%” compared to last year…
This year has been rocky for the $800 billion trucking industry.
After a raucous 2018, 2019 has seen retailers and manufacturers moving less, according to the Cass Freight Index. Freight rates have dipped year-over-year for six months straight. Loads on the spot market, in which retailers and manufacturers buy trucking capacity as they need it rather than through a contract, have fallen by a chilling 62.6% in May year-over-year.
The spot market is where we see the marginal changes in demand most clearly, and what this is telling us is that we are already in a transportation recession.
Of course that is almost certainly putting it too nicely. According to one owner-operator, what we are witnessing right now is nothing short of a “bloodbath”…
If demand does not start rebounding really soon, we are going to see many more trucking companies go bankrupt.
