Trucking Industry Foresees Modest Improvement

Despite up-and-down numbers over the last quarter, U.S. freight volumes are slowly improving. Tonnage is still down over last year but the gap is narrowing as 2009 comes to a close. The American Trucking Associations (ATA) believes the trucking industry is on the road to recovery.
The ATA advance seasonally adjusted for-hire truck tonnage index decreased 0.3% in September, after increasing 2.1% in both July and August. ATA argues that the recovery will be moderate and choppy and that the industry shouldn’t be alarmed with the “miniscule” drop in September.
Business researchers appear to generally concur with the ATA’s analysis and cautioned the industry “not to get too excited” over the monthly numbers through the last quarter of 2009 and first quarter of 2010. They project a second quarter 2010 recovery due to dropping inventory levels.
The trend towards industry recovery is not yet translating into higher freight rates though. Businesses are still in belt-tightening mode and are continuing to operate a reduced inventory levels, even as consumers are beginning to buy again. The lack of freight demand has created excess capacity, which has resulted in carriers dropping freight pricing to compete for the little business out there.
While the drop in freight rates has been damaging to the freight industry, this competition has been a boon for Freightquote’s customers – those companies which are still shipping. As rates drop, Freightquote’s online freight management system helps shippers find the best shipping solution available – from the best rate to the best delivery options – all from reputable carriers. As the economy recovers and rates inevitably rise again, Freightquote is the best place for shippers to stay on top of the rate changes. Whatever the increase, Freightquote’s shippers are assured of the lowest prices as a result of its experience, relationships and technology. These factors – and the efficiency of Freightquote’s system – will assist its shippers in weathering the economic storm.

The Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009 – “The Highway Bill”

An interesting coalition of organizations representing shippers, transportation providers and government agencies is calling for the creation of a cohesive national freight strategy as part of the six-year Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009, also known as the “Highway Bill”.

The Highway Bill is currently up for debate in Congress .

If one is to believe the authors of the bill, it is intended to “transform Federal surface transportation to a performance-based framework to reduce fatalities and injuries on our Nation’s highways, address the mobility and access needs of people and goods, improve the condition, performance, and connectivity of the United States intermodal surface transportation system, provide transportation choices for commuters and travelers, promote environmental sustainability, public health, and the livability of communities, support robust investment in surface transportation, and for other purposes.”

The bill opens with that grandiose statement of purpose but critics are concerned that it doesn’t adequately address freight transportation. The Freight Stakeholders Coalition believes that substantial investment in the freight transportation system must be given a high priority by the U.S. legislature.

The Senate’s Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee almost unanimously approved an 18-month extension of federal highway programs from October of this year through March 2011, giving Congress a bit of breathing room to revise the existing bill. The coalition though believes that the delay indicates that freight issues are being pushed to the bottom of the President’s priorities.

Janet Kavinoky from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce noted that “[f]reight is an issue that should be at the top of the nation’s priority list – but it is not. No matter the differences among industries as to what needs the most funding, we all recognize 18 months is too long to wait to pass a reauthorization bill. What do we need more time for? There’s enough information out there about what we need to do to fill this room 10 times over.”

“The only thing we need time for is to make transportation and freight policy a priority,” she said. “The health care debate has sucked all the oxygen out of the room. But there must be time for us to work on more than one issue critical to our future.”

Currently, the bill addresses the creation of an inclusive freight plan covering roads, rails and ports. However, funding appears to cover only the expansion of highway capacity for freight – ignoring rail freight.

Freightquote.com books an enormous volume of both rail and road freight (as well as intermodal shipments). Freightquote is hopeful that Congress recognizes the importance of freight transportation – both roadway and railway – to this country’s economic recovery and addresses both bill language and funding to the creation of a completely inclusive freight plan as part of the Highway Bill.

Booking Truckload (TL) Freight Services

Some manufacturers and wholesalers own their own fleets, tractor-trailers emblazoned with the corporate logo traveling the country via interstate.

Others, despite regular large-scale shipping, choose not to take on the expense and responsibility of hiring drivers and maintaining the trucks. And yet others need full trailers to ship items on only limited occasions.

Companies with shipments between 10,000 pounds and 45,000 pounds have found the process of booking truckload (TL) freight services much easier since the advent of the web-based transportation management offered by Freightquote.com. With Freightquote.com’s  experience in the industry, shippers are assured that quality carriers are contracted to haul each truckload.

Freightquote’s TL division can choose the right TL trucking companies for each load based on their longstanding knowledge and relationships with 3,000 of the top national and regional TL carriers in the freight hauling industry.  Shipping to Canada or Mexico? Not a problem, as Freightquote has relationships with all the right carriers for comprehensive North American delivery.

Consumers won’t have to worry about finding available trucks with the necessary custom equipment such as 48′ or 53′ vans, refrigerated trailers, or flatbed step beds or double drops because Freightquote’s TL reps will do it for them. If a shipment needs air-ride, blanket wrap or other special handling, Freightquote’s TL system can easily fill the bill. Even hazardous materials TL shipments are handled without problem.

In addition to knowing where the best truck for any given load is, Freightquote.com’s TL experts know how to find the best rate for any given shipping scenario. And the customer’s contact throughout the entire truckload shipping process is Freightquote. One customer service point from quote to dispatch to tracking to delivery.

Taking Freightquote.com’s expertise and experience in the realm of truckload shipping not only saves companies money upfront by finding the best available rate, when used appropriately, the system saves money in employee time. Companies no longer have to waste man hours booking TL shipments, negotiating and comparing rates, tracking and confirming deliveries. Freightquote takes care of that, freeing the shipper’s employees to complete other work.

In today’s economy, saving time and money in any increment is important to a business. Using Freightquote is an easy way to do just that.