Cass Freight Index Report points to continued 2017 gains

Data issued this week in the April edition of the Cass Freight Index Report from Cass Information Systems points to continued positive traction for both freight transportation shipments and expenditures.   

Many freight transportation and logistics executives and analysts consider the Cass Freight Index to be the most accurate barometer of freight volumes and market conditions, with many analysts noting that the Cass Freight Index sometimes leads the American Trucking Associations (ATA) tonnage index at turning points, which lends to the value of the Cass Freight Index.

April marked the fourth month in a row that shipments and expenditures saw gains, with the report’s author, Broughton Capital Founder and Managing Partner Donald Broughton commenting that these gains are in tandem with multiple data points “suggesting that the economy continues to get slightly better,” adding “[s]ome data points are simply less bad, but an increasing number of them are better and even a few are becoming outright strong.”

April shipments, at 1.120, were up 3.7% compared to March and saw a 4.0% annual increase, with shipments continuing to see decent activity going back to October 2016, which marked the first time it was up in the previous 20 months and one of the first indications that a recovery in freight, or at least a change in trend, had begun, the report explained.

But it added that looks, or annual comparisons, can also be deceiving, with this year’s 4.0% annual gain following a 4.9% decline in April 2016, which followed a 2.5% April 2015 decline.

As has been the case in recent months, parcel volumes related to e-commerce are still growing strong, with airfreight, especially in the Asia Pacific and European Atlantic lanes showing solid growth.

On the U.S. surface transportation side, the report said that rail volumes, which have been weak over the last two years, have “become increasingly less bad” and turned positive in recent weeks, with higher crude oil prices resulting in more oil and gas exploration, and intermodal also showing gains.

April expenditures, at 2.429, rose 3.1% compared to March and were up 6.0% annually.

The report explained that part of the gains expenditures have seen can be attributed to the steady increases in fuel prices over the last seven months, coupled with improvements in the pricing power of truckers and intermodal shippers.