Key findings
- Driver availability remains the top concern for 43% of all survey respondents, just up from a low of 40% in June. Conversely, freight volume (27%) and freight pricing (23%) continue their upward trends as the second- and third-highest concerns.
- Carrier sentiment for business conditions in July 2019 was 5.78, down slightly from 5.81 in March. Month-to-month sentiment for respondents with up to 100 power units held relatively steady, 5.52 in July vs. 5.48 in June, while sentiment slid from 5.98 to 5.90 for respondents from fleets with more than 100 power units.
- Month-over-month business conditions in July 2019 declined noticably, with 32% of all respondents saying it was the worse than June 2019, 27% saying it was better and 41% saying it was the same. Both respondent groups are slightly more pessimistic about the next six months compared to previous surveys, with 14% of both groups expecting business conditions to worsen. 19% of all respondents expect business conditions to improve in the next six months.
- Despite worries of a freight slowdown, 27% of all respondents plan to increase the size of their fleets in the next six months, while 4% of respondents plan to decrease fleet size and 65% expect to replace aging equipment while maintaining current fleet size or make no change in fleet size.
- Respondents from fleets with more than 100 power units reported seated truck counts at 92% or higher, compared to just 39% of respondents from fleets with up to 100 power units. than respondents with up to 100 power units. 62% of respondents from that group expect to increase recruiting spend in the next six months, compared to just 34% of respondents from fleets with more than 100 power units.
Click here to download the full July 2019 CCJ MarketPulse report.
