TLI Transportation News June 2023

June 2023 Transportation News

Logistics Day

National Logistics Day has been held annually on June 28 for the past couple years. The day seeks to honor the individuals who keep our goods flowing in the logistics industry. TIA also promotes the industry the whole month of June in Member Appreciation Month.

Labor Union Negotiations: ABF Freight

Union strikes are no stranger to the logistics industry as of recently with the almost devastating Rail Strike Negotiations last year. Teamsters Members at ABF Freight had given authorization to strike if demands were not met by a June 30 deadline. However, a tentative deal being reached was announced on June 7 after markets had closed. ­­

Companies such as Yellow Corp (YRC Freight, Reddaway, Holland, New Penn, etc) and UPS have also been in the news for labor negotiations. It’s important to be aware of these situations as they may affect shippers in the future. TLI will be closely monitoring the situations. 

Economy Update - Purchasing Manager Index

According to S&P Global, the US Manufacturing Purchase Manager Index (PMI) contracted to 48.4 in May 2023 – down from the 50.2 growth in April 2023. (Indexes above 50 reflect growth; under 50 reflect contraction) A contributing factor to the contraction is a slow-down in new orders and demand conditions.

While these factors hint at slower production growth soon, Trading Economics stated that the output and employment continued to increase. This hints at firms continuing to expand to fulfil the existing backlog of orders and to mitigate current supply conditions. Another positive mark is that input costs fell for the first time since May 2020 – allowing for the slowest rise in selling prices. 

Manufacturing Purchasing Manager Index (PMI)

Truckload Market

The spot market tightened during May, however the market was still cooler than this time last year. For example, Dry Van load-to-truck ratio was +31.8% from April to May, but May 2023 was -43.0% from May 2022. While the market supply tightened, spot rates continued sideways through out May.

Less-than-Truckload (LTL) Market

Carriers are reporting volumes to be down between 5-10% from last year. Most are hopeful that freight volumes will return in the second half of the year comparing month-over-month metrics. Excess length rejections are cooling off a bit, but LTL carriers are still not actively pursuing this type of freight. 

TLI is actively monitoring situations in the industry, such as acquisitions, embargos, and other industry disruptions. If a TLI client is directly affected by any of these events, your TLI representatives will reach out to discuss what this means for your account.

Please contact your TLI team at 610-280-3210 for any further questions. 

*Article written by Mitchell Kinek CTB, Marketing Coordinator, TLI. Any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out!