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Trucking News

MFW Musing’s – July 20, 2022

Industry Insights / July 20, 2022
MFW makes the wheels of transportation FAR less squeaky
We do this by having an extremely high give a dang level, proactive communication, and shooting straight – even if the news isn’t great
 

Noteworthy news bullets we thought you’d enjoy

  • Soaring inflation and crashing rates are sparking trucking’s ‘Great Purge’ (source: Freight Waves)
    • Trucking companies have much higher operating costs now than they did in 2019, even when removing fuel from the number.
    • Higher variable costs include insurance (+$0.02/mile), maintenance (+$0.06/mile), equipment (+$0.08/mile), and driver wages (+$0.15/mile)
    • In all, variable costs have increased at least $0.31/mile in 2022 vs. 2019.
  • June manufacturing output falls with growth still intact, reports ISM (source: Logistics Management.
    • June manufacturing numbers measured 53.0, which is a 3.1 decrease from May’s 56.1.
    • While June’s measurement is the 25th consecutive month of growth, it is the lowest measurement since June of 2020’s reading of 52.4.
  • Inventories up, warehouse space tight in June (source: Freight Waves)
    • Inventory levels (71.8) were up 2.5 percentage points and above 70 for the fifth time this year. In comparison, there were only two readings above 70 between 2016 and 2021.
  • Logistics Gauge Shows Economy Downshifting Into Second Half (source: Bloomberg)
    • The Logistics Managers’ Index declined to 65 in June, the third straight fall from a record of 76.2 in March, and the lowest level since July 2020.
    • The future index for transportation prices posted a reading of 59.6, indicating expectations of slight price increases for the next year.
  • Cass Transportation Index rises in June (source: Cass Information Systems)
    • Cass Freight rates rose 11.7% from May, largely due to higher amount of truckload moves compared to LTL. Truckload rates started to pull back in the back half of June, which LTL rates continued to rise.
  • June Class 8 Sales Highest of the Year (source: Transport Topics)
    • Sales reached 22,358 in June, compared with 19,840 last year.
  • Diesel Sheds 10.7 cents to $5.568 a Gallon (source: Transport Topics.
    • Diesel costs $2.344 more than it did at this time in 2021.
  • Trucking makes ‘massive’ hiring gains on strong demand (source: The Journal of Commerce)
    • For-hire carriers added 20,600 jobs in June, following May’s gain of 25,800.
    • In the past three months, trucking companies have added a record 62,400 workers compared with 31,400 in the same period last year.
  • POLA and POLB set new June volume records (source: Logistics Management)
    • Total June Port of LA volume at 876,111 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units) edged out June 2021 by 0.02% for the highest June in the port’s 115 years of operation.
    • Total June Port of Long Beach volume at 835,412 TEU saw a 15.3% annual increase, topping June 2018 by 83,224 TEU.
  • June Services PMI still grows but at a slightly reduced rate (source: Logistics Management)
    • June’s Service PMI reading came in at 55.3 (a reading over 50 signals growth). The services PMI has grown for 25 consecutive months.
  • Diesel Plunges $0.136 to Settle at $5.432 a Gallon (source: Transport Topics)
    • Diesel’s cost has plunged $0.378 a gallon since it reached a record $5.810 on June 20th.
    • Diesel costs $2.088 more for a gallon than it did at this time in 2021.