Tallies, totals and other trend data in the freight transportation realm
3/24/2023
-1.71
FTR’s Trucking Conditions Index (TCI) rose to a -1.71 reading in January from December’s -6.1, FTR officials announced on March 16. “Stronger freight volume and rates partially offset weaker utilization and a fuel cost environment that was not as positive as it had been in December,” they said. As of mid-March, FTR was projecting “consistently negative TCI readings” into third-quarter 2024, although “swings in diesel prices could yield some outliers.”
1.2
American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index rose 1.2% in February after increasing 0.6% in January. “Looking ahead, we continue to see evidence the inventory cycle is improving, which means bloated stocks will stop being a headwind and eventually help truck freight volumes,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Increased infrastructure spending will also boost volumes heading into the summer months. However, we expect to see continued freight softness related to lower home construction and slowing factory output.”
3.8
The shipments component of the Cass Freight Index® rose 3.8% month over month in February after a 3.2% month-over-month decline in January, Cass Information Systems officials reported on March 14. “In seasonally adjusted terms, the index was 0.3% lower m/m, extending a streak of remarkable stability from October through February,” the said. On a year-over-year basis, the declined 0.3% decline after rising “against an easy comparison in January,” officials said. “Soft real retail sales trends and ongoing destocking remain the primary headwinds to freight volumes, and sharp import declines suggest this type of environment will persist for several more months.”
4:1
“Well, well, well — what a shock, the CPKC [merger] was approved with minor conditions (open gateways, more filed data, 7- and not 5-year oversight), all expected. Congrats to the STB for its efforts [a 4:1 vote] and its ability to look beyond the shouting about rails these days … So, for one brief shining moment, the rail industry was able to look to the future with hope.” — Independent transportation analyst Tony Hatch in a March 21 email to his clients titled “Introducing CPKC (It Was All There for the Taking)”
5
Ports of Indiana is donating 5 acres to the Mount Vernon High School FFA for students to grow crops and raise funds for future educational programs, port officials announced on March 17. FFA is a school-based national youth leadership development organization of more than 850,000 student members in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Its national headquarters is in Indianapolis.
5
On March 23, 5 truck transportation stakeholders launched the Clean Freight Coalition (CFC). The five founding members: the American Trucking Associations; American Truck Dealers, a division of the National Automobile Dealers Association; National Tank Truck Carriers; Truck & Engine Manufacturers Association; and Truckload Carriers Association. CFC’s mission is to educate policy makers on the “incredible progress the trucking industry has made in reducing emissions and protecting” the environment; promote the work underway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from freight transportation; and advocate for “sound public policies that transition toward a zero-emission future in a manner that assures affordable and reliable freight transportation and protects the nation's supply chain.”
49
“In addition to conducting FRA-required inspections, railroads have, for decades, voluntarily invested in testing, implementing and advocating for advanced inspection technology to supplement manual inspections.
“For example, an advanced algorithm can analyze track alignment of more than 1,500 curves in track in just a few hours, whereas it would have taken a team of four people 10 months to complete the same task manually. Or, take, for instance, machine visioning technology, which uses cameras that collect 40,000 images per second of trains as they pass by at up to 60 MPH.
“Thanks in part to rail’s multi-layered inspection practices, FRA data show that the last decade has been the safest ever for railroads, with the Class I railroads’ mainline train accident rate at an all-time low and down 49% since 2000.” — the March 14 edition of The Signal, issued by Association American Railroads
75
On March 23, the International Road Transport Union (IRU) celebrated its 75th anniversary. The “voice of over 3.5 million road transport companies operating mobility and logistics services,” IRU was created by eight national road transport associations to partner with the United Nations and other governmental bodies to rebuild Europe’s war-ravaged transport and trade networks, IRU officials said in a press statement. “IRU has come a long way in 75 years, from getting Europe’s trade moving again in the late 1940s by building trust among former enemies, to today’s work on worldwide issues ranging from safety and digitalization to driver shortages and decarbonization,” said IRU President Radu Dinescu. “Our mission looking ahead is to make mobility networks and supply chains even safer, more efficient and greener.”
400+
Norfolk Southern Railway recently announced it would establish a regional training facility in Ohio that will offer free training to first responders in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. “The first safety classes at this new center began this week at our rail yard in Bellevue, Ohio, just west of Cleveland,” NS President and CEO Alan Shaw said during a March 22 U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing titled Improving Rail Safety in Response to the East Palestine Derailment. “We have more than 400 first responders registered for this and other upcoming trainings, and classes are currently full. We will have numerous future training opportunities across our 22-state network in 2023. We plan to establish a dedicated facility in the future.”
6,800 & 7.4 million
“To date, we have recovered and transported more than 7.4 million gallons of potentially affected water from the site for disposal at EPA-approved facilities. We also are working to safely remove affected soil, and our crews have removed more than 6,800 tons from the site. We are actively removing waste to facilities specifically engineered and permitted to safely handle this type of material. Our work will continue until the job is done.” — NS President and CEO Alan Shaw during the March 22 U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing titled "Improving Rail Safety in Response to the East Palestine Derailment"