The CCJ MarketPulse is a short survey of 200 for-hire fleet executives. Its purpose is to gauge fleet sentiment regarding monthly business conditions and concerns as well as hiring and purchasing plans. Here are the key findings from the October 2015 MarketPulse survey:
- Business conditions in October dropped again from the previous month, down to 5.45 from 5.55. Respondents from fleets with more than 100 power units rated October a 5.49 (5.61 in September), compared to respondents from fleets with up to 100 power units which rated October a 5.35 (5.42 in September).
- 3% of respondents said business was better in October than in September, while 32.0% indicated it was worse. Respondents with 100 or fewer power units reported the least favorable month-over-month comparison with 45.0% saying October was worse than September, compared to 27.3% of respondents with more than 100 power units.
- Respondents are slightly more optimistic about the near future. 29.4% of all respondents expect business conditions to be better in the next six months, adjusting for seasonality. However, 25.3% expect business conditions to worsen over the same period.
- Overall, 32.0% of respondents plan to increase the size of their fleets in the next six months, while 41.3% plan on replacing equipment but maintaining current fleet size. Only 4.0% of respondents indicated plans to decrease fleet size, while the balance (22.7%) have no plans to purchase equipment while maintaining current power unit levels.
- Freight volume (29.3 percent) continues to gain ground on diver availability (57.3%) in recent months as the leading concern for respondents, indicating softer freight conditions are causing less worries among fleets about adding drivers.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE OCTOBER 2015 CCJ MARKETPULSE REPORT
