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 February 2016 CCJ MarketPulse survey:
- Overall, business conditions in February are up from the previous month, up to 5. 5 from 5.1. Respondents from fleets with more than 100 power units rated February a 5.59 (5.2 in January), compared to respondents from fleets with up to 100 power units which rated February a 5.23 (4.86 in January).
- 8% of respondents said business was better in February than in January, while 13.8% indicated it was worse. Respondents with 100 or fewer power units reported the least favorable month-over-month comparison with 18.2% saying February was worse than January, compared to 12.1% of respondents with more than 100 power units.
- Respondents are much more optimistic about the near future. 48.8% of all respondents expect business conditions to be better in the next six months, adjusting for seasonality. Only 7.5% expect business conditions to worsen over the same period.
- Overall, 40.0% of respondents plan to increase the size of their fleets in the next six months, while 38.7% plan on replacing equipment but maintaining current fleet size. Only 2.5% of respondents indicated plans to decrease fleet size, while the balance (18.8%) have no plans to purchase equipment while maintaining current power unit levels.
- Both driver availability (45.6%) and freight volume (25.3 percent) increased as the leading concern for respondents in February compared to January, while freight pricing (17.6%) and political climate in Washington (1.3%) decreased.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FEBRUARY 2016 CCJ MARKETPULSE REPORT