The end of the “freight recession”?

May 15, 2008 by Splatty  
Filed under Misc Logistics

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With the global economy in a sharp cooling trend and the U.S. economy in a recession; when will the “freight recession” come to an end?

According to Jon A. Langenfeld, transportation analyst at Robert W. Baird & Company, we are closer to the end than the beginning of the freight recession and that carriers and shippers will most likely see the effects in the next 9 to 12 months.

Via Logisticsmgmt.com:

“We are a lot closer to the end of the freight recession than the beginning,” said Langenfeld. “But carriers won’t likely feel this for another 9-12 months.”

When the US economy does eventually rebound, Langenfeld said that a “freight pricing renaissance” will take hold, which will provide a lot of opportunity and risks from a transportation services providers’ standpoint and a shippers’ standpoint.

Pricing is likely to go up over the next five years in order for carriers to justify investments and build capacity, said Langenfeld. And when the current market environment turns in the next year, things may worse on the pricing side for shippers, with rate increases potentially in the six to eight percent range.

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