Indicators: ‘Trucking Conditions’ remain near record highs, forecasted to hold into 2019

CCJ‘s Indicators rounds up the latest reports on trucking business indicators on rates, freight, equipment, the economy and more.

Market conditions for trucking companies, as measured by FTR’s monthly Trucking Conditions Index, remained heavily tilted toward carriers in April. What’s more, says FTR, carriers can expect the conditions to continue to improve and hold strongly in carriers’ favor into 2019.

“The latest jobs report suggests that carriers’ aggressive driver recruiting efforts are paying off but additional growth in freight volumes, continued impact from electronic logging device implementation, and extreme tightness in the overall labor market should keep conditions highly favorable for carriers,” says Avery Vise, vice president of trucking research for FTR. “The TCI will remain at near record levels until at least the fourth quarter, when the market may begin to stabilize due to additional truck capacity.”