Shippers who rely on less-than-truckload carriers to move their freight over the highways enjoyed a 0.2% drop in average prices between June and July 2001. That didn't make up for the 0.4% and 0.1% rate hikes seen in the previous two months, however. Now the less-than-truckload price index stands at 152.3, which means prices are up 52.3% from 1992 levels. On the truckload front, the story remains one of tight capacity. With a 0.5% hike in July 2001, truckload operators reported their fourth price increase in as many months. Here, however, prices are up only 10.4% from 1992 levels.

You know you have an energy crisis when the cost of shipping refined petroleum on the Mississippi River takes off. Despite a 0.2% drop in prices for shipping oil on the river between June and July 2001, prices have jumped 9.0% from a year ago. According to data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys, average prices for inbound deep-sea foreign transportation of freight in July 2001 rose 4.2% from June levels and 19.5% from a year ago. Outbound service saw rates up 0.3% from June 2001 and down 7.4% from July 2000.

Rail rates for shipping freight increased a meager 0.1% between June and July 2001 but are up 1.5% from a year ago. Shippers of pulp and paper products did see a 1.2% price hike in July 2001, while those that move farm products saw a 1.3% upturn in prices between June and July 2001. For the most part, however, the manufacturing recession has kept rail rates from increasing at all. Shippers of minerals (excluding metals) saw rates fall 1.0%, while shippers of primary metals and transportation equipment both saw a 0.2% drop.

The cost of shipping freight via scheduled airline service got a tad more expensive in July 2001. Average prices for aircargo shipping increased 0.4% from June 2001 and 6.4% from July 2000. Those price hikes seem modest compared to the fuel-driven price hikes seen only six months earlier. With the economic slowdown persisting, aircargo prices may actually fall in the final quarter of 2001. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports prices for domestic courier service increased 2.1% and international service rose 1.8% between June and July 2001. Compared to a year ago, prices are up 4.2% and 2.6%, respectively.

FREIGHT FORWARDING

According to Department of Labor surveys, U.S.-based freight forwarding services cut their average prices by 0.4% in July 2001. That’s the largest one-month drop in average prices since December 2000. Freight forwarders have been struggling to raise prices in a recession environment with mixed success. Since 1994, average prices for forwarding services are down 3.4%. But in the 12-month period ending June 2001, average prices are actually up 1.7%.

WAREHOUSING

Price escalation in the public warehousing and storage industry appears to be settling in the 2.0% to 2.5% range these days. In July 2001, average prices for public warehousing and storage rose 0.4% from year-ago levels. Prices for storing farm products are up 5.9% in July from year-ago levels. Average prices for warehousing general merchandise rose 0.8%, and refrigerated warehousing and storage prices are up 1.0% over the same 12-month period.