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Sourced from CH Robinson, updated 18 April 2024.
Top story: Supply and demand imbalance continues to linger
In today’s market, there’s an imbalance between carrier supply and demand, driven by the surge of carriers entering during the Covid period. Despite a gradual decrease in carrier counts over the past year, achieving balance remains a challenge due to the lingering effects of increased competition and slower retraction.
Overview
Upcoming Seasonal Disruptions in Trucking
There are two similar, yet distinct factors of timing involved within the U.S. for-hire truckload industry: cyclicality and seasonality. Cyclicality is defined by the four market cycles we inevitably churn through as the market works to find balance between freight demand and carrier supply. This cycle is dependant upon many factors but typically lasts approximately three years, despite this current market cycle lasting much longer due to a prolonged period of over-supply. Seasonality, on the other hand, is defined by the recurring situations that we see repeated each calendar year. These seasonal events could be very regimented events like holidays or they could also be events that will likely occur, but the timing is less predictable, like a winter storm. Both the predictable and unpredictable events are plannable; however, because we can use the learnings of the past to forecast the impact of said events when they arise, then enact those plans to limit their effects on service and/or pricing. Here we will focus on the impending events of produce season, Mother’s Day, Roadcheck Week and Memorial Day.
The full ‘Freight Market Update’ can be read here.
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