Price Trends
Pricing Across the Transportation Modes
Elizabeth Baatz, Thinking Cap Solutions -- Logistics Management, 6/1/2009
Source: Elizabeth Baatz, Thinking Cap Solutions. E-mail: ebaatz@alertdata.com
Trucking
Average prices charged by the trucking industry increased an unexpected 0.7% from March to April. The cause lay squarely in the lap of local truckers of specialized freight, where prices reportedly jumped 7.7%. As more survey data comes in, we'll see if that data point gets revised down. Meanwhile, long-distance truckers who haul chemical tankers and other special freight say their prices went up only 0.2% from a month ago and fell 7.6% from a year ago. Less-than-truckload and truckload long-haulers of general freight also cut their average prices from year-ago levels by 3.7% and 7.1%, respectively. A turnaround in fuel surcharges most likely accounts for this trend.
| % CHANGE VS.: | 1 month ago | 6 mos. ago | 1 yr. ago |
| General freight - local | 1.0 | -4.8 | -4.5 |
| Truckload | -0.6 | -7.4 | -7.1 |
| Less-than-truckload | -1.5 | 1.6 | -3.7 |
| Tanker & other specialized freight | 3.1 | -1.5 | -1.3 |
Air
Across the spectrum of airborne carriers, prices fell from March to April with one glaring exception: airfreight in scheduled flights. U.S.-owned airlines managed to increase the prices charged for flying freight on scheduled flights by 2.2% from a month ago. That one-month price uptick, however, still left domestic airfreight prices down 5.6% from year-ago levels. U.S.-owned chartered planes, meanwhile, cut the prices they charged for flying freight by 1.5% from a month ago as domestic and international air couriers both dropped their prices by 2.4% from March to April. Not until world trade picks up will we see any significant price gains in airfreight services.
| % CHANGE VS.: | 1 month ago | 6 mos. ago | 1 yr. ago |
| Scheduled air freight | 2.2 | -7.6 | -5.6 |
| Chartered air freight & passenger | -1.5 | N/A | N/A |
| Domestic air courier | -2.4 | -14.2 | -8.1 |
| International air courier | -2.4 | -13.4 | -7.9 |
Water
International shipping companies have cut rates sharply and a global trade bust is holding tags down. U.S.-based waterborne transportation providers, however, report their average prices actually increased 0.4% from March to April. The price pressure came mostly from companies that move cargo over inland waterways. In this market, average transaction prices increased 4.9% from March to April. With towing services excluded, prices in this sector jumped 6.1%. We'll evaluate this statistic carefully as the year progresses, but for now our overall U.S. water transport price forecast continues to call for an 8% price cut in 2009.
| % CHANGE VS.: | 1 month ago | 6 mos. ago | 1 yr. ago |
| Deep-sea freight | 0.2 | -14.2 | -6.2 |
| Coastal & intercoastal freight | -0.9 | -4.4 | -0.4 |
| Grt. Lks.-St. Lawrence Seaway | -3.4 | -0.2 | 1.3 |
| Inland water freight | 4.9 | -11.3 | 0.1 |
Rail
After seven consecutive months of decline, the railroad industry finally boosted prices in April 2009. Prices for intermodal rail service increased 0.5% while average carload service prices inched up 0.1%. This turnabout may have made shippers unhappy, but economic forecasters looking for any inkling that the bottom of the U.S. recession has hit might take this number to heart. Nonetheless, intermodal and carload rail prices remained 14.3% and 5.3%, respectively, below year-ago price levels. Our forecast for further rail transportation industry price cuts remains in force until new data shows an economic recovery emerging.
| % CHANGE VS.: | 1 month ago | 6 mos. ago | 1 yr. ago |
| Rail freight | 0.2 | -9.0 | -6.1 |
| Intermodal | 0.5 | -11.4 | -14.3 |
| Carload | 0.1 | -9.1 | -5.3 |
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