-11.3
FTR’s Shippers Conditions Index (SCI) for May, as reported in FTR July Shippers Update, improved “marginally” to -11.3, company officials said on July 26. But “freight rates impact on shippers’ conditions were the most negative in the history of the index,” they added. “It remains a period of tough sledding for shippers as utilization and rates will remain difficult factors to offset in the near term,” said Todd Tranausky, FTR’s vice president of rail and intermodal. “The fall peak season will add increasing pressure to supply chains and could create additional negative pressure in the index over that period.”
3
A&R Logistics acquired RJ’s Transportation, a provider of bulk liquid transportation and other logistics services to the chemical industry, company officials announced on July 30. RJ’s represents A&R’s 3rd acquisition of a liquid chemical supply chain services provider in the past 18 months, following the acquisitions of First Choice Logistics in February 2020 and L.T. Harnett in August 2020.
4
“Mexican intermodal volume has risen for 4 straight months, including an 11.2% increase (6,499 containers and trailers) in July 2021 over July 2020. Mexican intermodal was up 3.9% (18,060 units) for the year to date through July.” — Association of American Railroads' The Signal, issued Aug. 6
17
The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s (ELFA) Monthly Leasing and Finance Index (MLFI-25) showed the equipment finance sector’s overall new business volume for June was $10.4 billion, up 17% year-over-year from new business volume in June 2020, ELFA officials said on July 26. Volume was up 28% month-to-month from $8.1 billion in May. Year-to-date, cumulative new business volume was up nearly 9% compared with the same 2020 period.
30
The Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE) was awarded a grant to support the deployment of 30 Hyundai XCIENT Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks (FCET) in northern California, CTE announced on July 26. Partially funded by California Climate Investments and was awarded by the California Air Resources Board and the California Energy Commission’s Clean Transportation Program. The project is also funded by over $6 million in cost-share funding provided by the Alameda County Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. “This project will be the largest commercial deployment of Class 8 hydrogen FCETs in North America,” CTE officials said.
42
“BNSF reported strong Q2/21 numbers. … Revenues were up 26% on a slight (albeit perplexing) mix hit and volumes up almost 25%. OpEx matched the volume so the OR only” improved by 70bps to 60.4% (over 500bps higher than that of UP, BTW). But IM was stellar, in a period of extreme stress, they produced revenue growth of 32.6% on a volume surge of 27.4% (so something was moving in Q2!). Ag’s split was +19%/+13%, Industrial Products +17%/+18%, and coal, well, don’t think we have a trend here but coal revenues were up forty-two (42%) percent.” — independent transportation analyst Tony Hatch in Aug. 9 message to his clients
43
From 2004 to 2019, “real rates (adjusted for inflation) for all rail shippers increased 43%,” according to Economic Analysis: Consolidation and Increasing Freight Rail Rates, a report produced by Escalation Consultants for the Rail Customer Coalition and issued July 29. During the same period, “real railroad costs rose only 8%,” Rail Customer Coalition officials said, citing the report. “Rates for the largest U.S. railroads have jumped more than twice as fast as inflation and rates for long-haul trucking,” they added.
81.2
“The University of Michigan’s index of consumer sentiment … fell to 81.2 in July, the lowest it’s been in five months and down from 85.5 in June. Richard Curtin, the economist in charge of the survey, said, “The largest monthly declines remained concentrated in the outlook for the national economy and complaints about high prices for homes, vehicles and household durable. While most consumers still expect inflation to be transitory, there is growing evidence that an inflation storm is likely to develop on the not-too-distant horizon.” — Association of American Railroads' The Signal, issued Aug. 6
18,359
“Parts shortages, especially microchips, continue to plague automakers. Lower auto production has led to fewer carloads of new vehicles and fewer carloads of raw materials that eventually make their way into new cars (e.g., steel and plastics). North American rail carloads of motor vehicles and parts averaged 18,359 per week in July 2021, their lowest weekly average since May 2020.” — Association of American Railroads' The Signal, issued Aug. 6
26,500
At 26,500, North American Class 8 net orders for July were down 1% month over month at 26,500 units, FTR announced on Aug. 4. Orders were up 25% year over year, with Class 8 orders now totaling 394,000 units for the previous 12 months. “July ordering was similar to June in that OEMs took a limited number of orders for delivery in 2022,” said Don Ake, FTR’s vice president of commercial vehicles. “Fleets need a significant number of new trucks right now and they perceive this need will continue throughout next year. However, OEMs are having difficulty establishing reasonable 2022 pricing, with commodity and other costs elevated. It is uncertain if current higher production costs are transitory or will persist into 2022.”
51,000
“Capacity diffusion is one interesting trend in this robust freight market. Approximately 51,000 motor carriers have received operating authority through the first half of 2021. This pace practically guarantees that 2020’s record wave of 59,000 new carriers will be eclipsed by a wide margin this year. Naturally, these numbers aren’t being driven by new drivers entering the market but by company drivers electing to run under their own operating authority. This isn’t a matter of added capacity; it’s more about deeper fragmentation in the industry (and perhaps diminished utilization due to greater coordinating costs).” — from U.S. Express Enterprises Inc.’s Q3 2021 Economic Forecast, issued Aug. 4
784,845
The Port of Long Beach handled a record number of containers in July. During the month, dockworkers and terminals moved 784,845 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a 4.2% increase from the same year-ago month, port officials said on Aug. 5. July.” Imports grew slightly, at 382,940 TEUs, a 1.6% increase; while exports decreased 20.7% year-over-year to 109,951 TEUs. Empties moved out of Long Beach ballooned 22.8%, to 291,955 TEUs.
125 million
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) on Aug. 5 agreed to enter into a 20-year lease with Amazon Global Air to redevelop and expand air cargo facilities at Newark Liberty International Airport. Amazon is expected to transform two existing structures, Buildings 339 and 340, into a new state-of-the-art air cargo campus with a targeted investment of $125 million for renovation, PANYNY officials said.
