Truckload supply and demand on collision course in 2024

On this past week’s Freightonomics episode, Zac Rogers, an associate professor of supply chain management at Colorado State and co-author of the Logistics Managers’ Index (LMI), suggested that the demand growth was a product of both inventories having been rightsized versus this time last year and growth in consumption. 

While he admits that there is some ongoing concern about consumer health, the numbers are what they are. Anthony Smith, FreightWaves’ chief economist, responded to his concerns with a resounding “never bet against the American consumer.” 

Possibly the most shocking revelation was in the LMI outlook of transportation prices by respondents. The LMI is divided up into multiple measures of logistics activity such as transportation and warehousing prices and capacity. Values above 50 indicate expansion while values below 50 are contractionary. 

The transportation pricing component has averaged a value of 38 in 2023 and has been showing below 50 since the summer of 2022. Respondents to the November survey showed a reading of around 64 for prices in 2024, indicating that most expect rates to have bottomed. 

While every forecast is an opinion on some level, the data does suggest that the supply of capacity and demand for its use is moving back toward equilibrium at a relatively fast clip. 

Looking at the past 13 years of Carrier Details Total Trucking Authorities data, there has never been such a strong downward trend. This of course is following the historic growth rate — the definition of an economic bubble. 

FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller stated in this past week’s State of Freight webinar that the risk is growing for shippers in 2024. Taking an overly aggressive approach to cost cutting would be much more risky than last year. No capacity is guaranteed. Even the strongest carriers feel this level of market downturn. 

While Fuller admitted that he does not definitively know that the market will turn, there are several LMI respondents that feel similarly that there will be noticeable signs of tightening by the end of next year.  

Economically speaking, there are still questions, but the answers are coming into focus with time. At the very least, the U.S. has economically overachieved versus many expectations, which does provide hope for the “soft landing” many have wanted. 

Unfortunately, the solution to the freight market means that several first have to lose. This has been the case for many sectors post-pandemic. But this too is passing.

About the Chart of the Week

The FreightWaves Chart of the Week is a chart selection from SONAR that provides an interesting data point to describe the state of the freight markets. A chart is chosen from thousands of potential charts on SONAR to help participants visualize the freight market in real time. Each week a Market Expert will post a chart, along with commentary, live on the front page. After that, the Chart of the Week will be archived on FreightWaves.com for future reference.

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