FTR: Trucking market conditions sink to lowest level since November

A measure of freight trucking conditions fells in June to its most negative level since November, reflecting modestly weaker market conditions for carriers, according to transportation sector market analysis firm FTR.

FTR’s Trucking Conditions Index (TCI) for June fell to -6.29 from the previous month’s -3.75. The TCI tracks changes in five conditions of the U.S. truck market, including freight volumes, freight rates, fleet capacity, fuel prices, and financing costs. Combined into a single index number, the metric represents good, optimistic conditions when positive, and the opposite when negative.

“Based on our assessment, for-hire trucking companies have already faced the longest period of consistently unfavorable market conditions since the Great Recession. We expect negative TCI readings to continue for nearly a year longer and little, if any, improvement until early 2024,” Avery Vise, FTR’s vice president of trucking, said in a release.

“As we have noted before, the challenges are not uniform as the current market is hitting small carriers much harder than larger ones, especially considering the recent upturn in diesel prices,” Vise said.