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"Though freight brokers continued to face challenging demand and rates in the first half of the year, there are some signs that the worst may be over," says Lee Klaskow, senior freight transportation and logistics analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. "We believe a return to seasonal demand, higher import levels and inventory restocking will help drive a recovery later this year."
The survey asked 113 freight forwarders, third-party logistics providers, broker agents, and asset- and non-asset-based brokers. Most of the respondents — 70% — have 50 or fewer employees. Non-asset-based brokers made up the biggest group, followed by broker agents and third-party logistic providers.
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The survey found 49% of brokers are optimistic volume growth is coming soon, in the next six-nine months, despite demand challenges. Around 31% expected loads to stay flat while 20% anticipated a decline.
More than two-thirds of brokers believe rates have hit bottom and expect them to stay flat or increase over the next three-six months. Truckstop's Market Demand Index is up 24% on average from the second quarter of last year.
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Around 44% of respondents noted lower gross margins in the first half of 2024 compared to the same time frame in 2023. That is 13 percentage points worse than what brokers indicated in 2023. Around a third of surveyed brokers expect margins to deteriorate over the next six months.
"Despite the improved outlook over the past six months, brokers remain skeptical about their ability to increase gross margins," says Kendra Tucker, CEO of Truckstop.
