TheTrucker.com

Volume, productivity up in October, ACT Research index shows

Reading Time: 2 minutes

COLUMBUS, Ind. — The latest release of ACT’s For-Hire Trucking Index showed the supply-demand balance rising to 55.6 on a seasonally adjusted basis in October from 50.1 in September. The strong increase in the Volume Index and the downtick in the Capacity Index both pressed the balance higher, now showing some tightness returning to the trucking industry. This follows an essentially balanced market in September.

“We saw good sequential improvement in October freight volume and truck utilization, which we expect to continue through the holiday season,” said Tim Denoyer, ACT Research’s vice president and senior analyst. “But, we’ll have to be careful of the effects of pre-tariff shipping for the next several months. This corresponds to the 18 percent year-over-year increase in container imports at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in October, so it’s fair to say the pre-ship is helping, and will likely reverse to temporarily loosen supply-demand in early 2019.”

The October fleet purchase intentions reading indicated an uptick in equipment demand, with 57.2 percent of respondents planning to buy trucks in the next three months, up from 55.5 percent in September.

“After record year-to-date orders, this series should remain elevated as long lead-time truck orders are built and hit the highways,.” Denoyer said.

As part of this month’s survey, ACT Research queried fleets about what future questions they would like to see asked of the industry.

“Most of the questions that survey responders would have us ask in the future center around drivers, from recruiting strategies and sign-on bonuses to identification of the main reasons truck drivers leave their companies,” Denover said. “Other concerns of fleets in ACT’s For-Hire Trucking Index survey included contract pricing and bidding, technology and collision mitigation, and regulation impacts.”

ACT is a publisher of new and used commercial vehicle industry data, market analysis and forecasting services for the North American market, as well as the U.S. tractor-trailer market and the China CV market.

For more information on ACT, please visit http://www.actresearch.net.

 

 

 

 

The Trucker News Staff

The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Avatar for The Trucker News Staff
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
For over 30 years, the objective of The Trucker editorial team has been to produce content focused on truck drivers that is relevant, objective and engaging. After reading this article, feel free to leave a comment about this article or the topics covered in this article for the author or the other readers to enjoy. Let them know what you think! We always enjoy hearing from our readers.

COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE