In my 2012 year-end blog on Trends in Transportation, I identified a number of areas where I expected to see some changes in 2013. One area I highlighted was the expectation that we would begin to see more Innovation in Transportation. In my view, Freight Transportation has lagged other industry sectors in the Innovation space. I also questioned the shelf life of the current transactional model of Freight Brokerage. Many freight brokers still rely on faxes, phone calls and e mail to run their operations.... Read More

The graph below shows the result of organizing NADA’s CY 2012 retail sales data for sleeper tractors into region. The analysis is an attempt to show the relative difference in value placed on trucks sold in each region.
For reference, the average sleeper tractor retailed in the US in 2012 was a MY 2007 aerodynamic truck with a large raised-roof sleeper, just over 450HP, and a 10-speed manual transmission. That truck sold for $49,086 and had 547,881 miles.... Read More

Data reported to NADA from auctions and dealers indicates that February was the third month in a row to see a substantial increase in selling prices for Class 6 Conventionals. The Class 4 segment is also heading upwards, and Class 5’s remain stable. See graph for details.... Read More

A recently released ATA paper has led to headlines reporting that in truck/car crashes the car driver made a critical error about 75% of the time. This paper was part of the ATA's push to get FMCSA to begin assigning fault to crash reports that are used to calculate a motor carrier's CSA score. Although FMCSA is currently studying the matter, they've cooled on the idea since initially endorsing it. The most commonly cited reason is a belief that police generated crash reports may not be reliable enough.... Read More

The most recent revision to 2012Q4 GDP shows that the economy grew at a lackluster 0.4 percent annual rate to end last year, which was the slowest GDP growth rate since 2011Q1. However, this overall number doesn’t capture the large discrepancy between the public and private sectors. Had public sector spending remained unchanged, real GDP would have increased by 1.8 percent.... Read More

Final February sales data shows that the average selling price of a sleeper tractor that month was $49,524. Average mileage was 539,315, and average age was 78 months. These results are very similar to both last month and year-prior. See graph for detail.

2013 is off to a relatively strong start compared to the post-recovery average. Since the recovery began in late 2009, January and February have been relatively slow months for used truck sales, followed by a relatively strong March and April.

Preliminary February results show 5.9 trucks retailed and 1.7 trucks wholesaled per rooftop. Compared to January, February’s retail result was 0.4 trucks (or 6.3%) lower, while the wholesale result was 0.2 trucks (or 11.8%) higher (see graph). ... Read More

Quite a lot has changed during the three months since my last general update on the economic environment for trucking, but overall the outlook has substantially improved. Manufacturing is up. Retail sales are up. Consumer sentiment has brightened. Construction activity is hot. Congress is (possibly?) figuring out how to get its act together. Below the fold, I discuss several of these measures in more detail.... Read More

And I'll be...
Taking care of business, every day
Taking care of business, every way
I've been taking care of business, it's all mine
Taking care of business and working overtime
Work out.

Bachman Turner Overdrive

"Big Data” has become one of the more popular business expressions over the past couple of years. This commonly refers to a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications. While this is a legitimate concern for some companies, possessing good freight data is a key issue for many others.... Read More