Freight outlook for January is grim however seasonal

This week’s FreightWaves Provide Chain Pricing Energy Index: 35 (Shippers)

Final week’s FreightWaves Provide Chain Pricing Energy Index: 35 (Shippers)

Three-month FreightWaves Provide Chain Pricing Energy Index Outlook: 30 (Shippers)

The FreightWaves Provide Chain Pricing Energy Index makes use of the analytics and knowledge in FreightWaves SONAR to research the market and estimate the negotiating energy for charges between shippers and carriers.

This week’s Pricing Energy Index is predicated on the next indicators:

Volumes’ weekly positive factors are helped by simple comps

Volumes have continued their restoration from the winter vacation season with a surge in pent-up freight demand unleashed into the market. Naturally, since final week’s knowledge was affected by vacation noise, the Outbound Tender Quantity Index (OTVI) faces some absurdly simple comps on a weekly foundation. Even nonetheless, accepted tender volumes stay beneath their ranges of 2021 and ’22 in the intervening time. 

To reiterate, OTVI’s actions on a week-over-week (w/w) foundation won’t be terribly informative proper now, since many shippers and carriers have been observing New 12 months’s Day final Monday. However, OTVI did rise 22.83% w/w. On a year-over-year (y/y) foundation, OTVI is down 27.6%, although such y/y comparisons might be coloured by important shifts in tender rejections. OTVI, which incorporates each accepted and rejected tenders, might be artificially inflated by an uptick within the Outbound Tender Reject Index (OTRI).

Contract Load Accepted Volumes (CLAV) is an index that measures accepted load volumes shifting below contracted agreements. Briefly, it’s much like OTVI however with out the rejected tenders. Taking a look at accepted tender volumes, we see an increase of 23% w/w in addition to a fall of 11% y/y. Whereas this y/y distinction does verify that precise cracks in freight demand — and never merely OTRI’s y/y decline — are driving OTVI decrease, it’s price noting that Q1 2022 was an unusually lively season for shippers, which thus makes for unfair comps. Initially of 2022, shippers have been simply starting to account for the unexpected volatility of truckload markets and have been desirous to safe capability in the course of the historically quiet season of Q1.

Per a current launch by the Nationwide Retail Federation (NRF), the “pandemic-driven surge [is] lastly over.” The NRF got here to this conclusion by taking a look at U.S. import volumes, that are anticipated to stay at pre-pandemic ranges for each this month and the subsequent. Including to the dearth of import volumes would be the upcoming Lunar New 12 months, throughout which Chinese language manufacturing and export amenities might be closed over the 15-day celebration. That pause ought to permit container ports to filter out any remaining congestion, of which there’s little. Strikingly, the ports of Houston and Savannah, Georgia — which, in 2022, noticed demand enormously outstrip their amenities’ capability — have few ships lingering of their queues. 

Whereas I personally anticipate that client demand for imported items won’t make a sudden resurgence any time quickly, there’s a justified worry that shippers are as soon as once more overreacting to market situations. In 2021, after all, shippers have been unable to deal with the “pandemic-driven surge” of client demand and thus fell sufferer to the bullwhip impact. However now, it may be argued that shippers with low inventories might be caught unawares when client demand rises in response to easing inflation.

To this argument’s credit score, the December launch of the patron worth index (CPI) confirmed that inflation slowed for the sixth consecutive month after a peak of 9.1% y/y in June 2022. December’s CPI was up a comparatively modest 6.5% y/y, whereas the core CPI — which excludes objects with unstable pricing like meals and gasoline — rose 5.7% y/y. This present knowledge might persuade the Federal Reserve both to proceed decelerating its rate of interest hikes or, extra dramatically, to carry rates of interest at their present stage.

Of the 135 complete markets, all however 5 reported weekly will increase in tender quantity as truckload markets shook off their final vestiges of vacation blues.

Since each market faces simple comps this week, it’s price taking a look at these by which the native OTVI underperformed towards the nationwide index. Houston is sadly the most important perpetrator of this weak point. Regardless of being the nation’s fourth-largest market by outbound quantity, freight demand rose solely a scant 5.56% w/w. As of Friday at 9 a.m. EST, solely 4 container ships are anchored off the coast of Houston — a far cry from final summer time’s constant queues of 20-plus ships.

By mode: Van volumes are the important thing driver behind the nationwide OTVI’s rebound from the vacations. The Van Outbound Tender Quantity Index (VOTVI) is up 26% w/w. Whereas VOTVI is down towards yearly comps in virtually equal measure, falling 26.7% y/y, a lot of this distinction might be attributed to the hole in van rejection charges between 2023 and ’22. Accepted van volumes are nonetheless down 11.1% y/y.

Reefer volumes are almost the mirror reverse, because the Reefer Outbound Tender Quantity Index (ROTVI) is just up 13.4% w/w. Once more, ROTVI is down 33.6% y/y, however the hole between reefer’s rejection charges in 2023 and ’22 is way wider than that of van’s. Accepted reefer volumes are literally up by a slight, although nonetheless spectacular, 2.2% y/y.

Tender rejections slip nearer to pre-Christmas ranges

Though OTRI’s actions over the previous three to 6 months look pretty drastic, I shouldn’t give into sensationalism. In actuality, OTRI budged fewer than 200 foundation factors from trough to peak in December. Within the broader context of the complete knowledge set, such exercise is comparatively insignificant. With that caveat in thoughts, OTRI is swiftly burning via its seasonal positive factors, revealing the weak point of carriers’ present leverage out there.

Over the previous week, OTRI, which measures relative capability out there, fell 47 bps to 4.47%. OTRI is now 1,656 bps beneath year-ago ranges.

Within the first session of the brand new Congress, a crew of 20 Republican lawmakers banded collectively to reintroduce an exemption for underage drayage truckers. Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, who spearheaded the same invoice in 2021 that didn’t see the ground, is championing the Ceasing Age-Based mostly (CAB) Trucking Restrictions Act, a proposal to permit CDL holders as younger as 18 to haul containers to and from marine terminals. Beneath the present legislation, shifting containers and different cargo from seaports is taken into account interstate trucking, even when the cargo’s remaining vacation spot is situated inside the identical state because the port itself. Given the aforementioned proof that congestion at U.S. ports is all however eradicated, the current function of Mast’s invoice is unclear, although it might discover significance in future deluges of import exercise.

The map above exhibits the Weighted Rejection Index (WRI), the product of the Outbound Tender Reject Index — Weekly Change and Outbound Tender Market Share, as a solution to prioritize rejection fee modifications. As capability is mostly discovering freight, this week solely two areas posted blue markets, that are often those on which to focus.

Of the 135 markets, 43 reported increased rejection charges over the previous week, although 30 of these reported will increase of solely 100 or fewer bps.

When it comes to rejection charges, Detroit has been the market to look at within the 12 months to this point. Its OTRI vacation bump was essentially the most dramatic of any area, rising like a phoenix from sub-1% ranges in mid-December to just about 15.5% on the shut of the 12 months. After it noticed an anticipated dip late final week, it then shocked yours really with one other plateau close to 12%. Sadly, that little mesa appears to be like prefer it was Detroit’s final hurrah, as its native OTRI is declining as soon as once more. However, it’s nonetheless up 269 bps w/w towards that dip, sitting at 8.96%.

By mode: Flatbed rejection charges compounded final week’s lack of 761 bps w/w, because the Flatbed Outbound Tender Reject Index (FOTRI) is now down an extra 184 bps w/w at 14.9%. In my residence state of Illinois, it was usually mentioned jokingly that there have been precisely two seasons: winter and development. Sadly for flatbed carriers, we’re nonetheless firmly caught in winter, with few sources of upward strain on FOTRI close by.

Van rejections fell equally with the general OTRI, with the Van Outbound Tender Reject Index (VOTRI) down 42 bps w/w. Regardless of making a weak restoration in quantity, reefers are the mode most reluctant to surrender their seasonal positive factors: Whereas the Reefer Outbound Tender Reject Index (ROTRI) is down 63 bps w/w at 6.25%, ROTRI has been on a stepwise decline since Christmas. At every step, it threatens to stage out.

Spot charges fall again to earth

In final week’s column, I mentioned the non permanent spike in diesel costs, which was attributable to a extreme chilly snap that broken U.S. refinery capability. I additionally talked about that January was forecast to have comparatively gentle climate, which might not solely permit for fast repairs to be made at refineries but additionally scale back total demand for diesel gasoline, which is used as a supply of heating in the course of the winter. I additionally famous how the spike in diesel costs had not but been an element within the Nationwide Truckload Index’s (NTI) weekly positive factors, which had been made purely via linehaul fee will increase.

This week, I’m blissful to narrate that the biggest U.S. refinery is on-line as soon as once more after repairs, as are different refineries that noticed equally wanted repairs. The dangerous information is that, within the interim when capability was offline, stockpiles of diesel and different distillates fell 14% beneath the five-year common. This huge draw will create ambient upward strain on costs till these inventories are rebuilt.

This week, the NTI, which incorporates gasoline surcharges and different accessorials, fell 9 cents per mile w/w to $2.73. As was the case final week, the fluctuation of diesel costs was not an element on the NTI’s motion. The linehaul variant of the NTI (NTIL) — which excludes gasoline surcharges and different accessorials — likewise fell 9 cents per mile w/w to $2.00.

It’s in the course of the early weeks of January when our contract fee knowledge turns into the least actionable, since contract charges are reported on a two-week delay. On the time of writing, the latest contract fee knowledge displays the run-up to New 12 months’s Eve, when costs are naturally elevated as capability is extra elusive. I acknowledged in final week’s column that my readers and I must wait till early February to see whether or not my prediction that contract charges would drop considerably in Q1 2023 seems to be true or false. Sadly, that timeline has not budged, and so we should content material ourselves with solely the vacation actions of contract charges.

Luckily, we are able to draw comparisons to earlier years, as the vacation bump is a seasonal phenomenon that happens from mid-December to the top of the 12 months. In 2022, contract charges rose 3.4% over this era — above 2021’s vacation rise of two.2% however comfortably beneath 2020’s and 2019’s positive factors of 5.2% and eight%, respectively. We are able to additionally see within the above chart that the present motion of contract charges mirrors that of the NTI, which shortly started to lose momentum in 2023. 

As of proper now, nevertheless, contract charges — which exclude gasoline surcharges and different accessorials just like the NTIL — rose 2 cents per mile w/w to $2.71.

The chart above exhibits the unfold between the NTIL and dry van contract charges, revealing the index has continued to fall to all-time lows within the knowledge set, which dates to early 2019. All through that 12 months, contract charges exceeded spot charges, resulting in a document variety of bankruptcies within the area. As soon as COVID-19 unfold, spot charges reacted shortly, rising to document highs on a seemingly weekly foundation, whereas contract charges slowly crept increased all through 2021. 

As linehaul spot charges stay 67 cents beneath contract charges, there may be nonetheless runway for the latter to say no all through the subsequent six months.

The FreightWaves TRAC spot fee from Los Angeles to Dallas, arguably one of many densest freight lanes within the nation, noticed a reprieve from its yearly lows. Over the previous week, the TRAC fee rose 4 cents per mile w/w to $2.34. The every day NTI (NTID), which is elevated at $2.71, continues to outpace charges from Los Angeles to Dallas.

On the East Coast, particularly out of Atlanta, charges additionally elevated and are outpacing the NTID. The FreightWaves TRAC fee from Atlanta to Philadelphia rose 3 cents per mile this week to succeed in $2.75. Outdoors of the present vacation run, charges alongside this lane have been dropping steadily since mid-July, when the TRAC fee was $3.48 per mile.

For extra data on the FreightWaves Passport, please contact Michael Rudolph at [email protected] or Tony Mulvey at [email protected].