FTR Transportation Intelligence's Shippers Conditions Index for June fell to near zero from the May reading of 4.5. Moderating fuel costs kept it out of negative territory, the company says, and the rating indicates a mostly balanced freight market between shippers and carriers.
[RELATED: Trucking conditions trended down in June]
"The days of consistently favorable freight market conditions for shippers are over, but the market does not really look tough for them, either," says Avery Vise, FTR's vice president of trucking. "Over the forecast horizon, we do not expect the market to be even remotely as challenging as the one that shippers endured from late 2020 through mid-2022, and shippers might even fare better than they anticipate. The biggest wild card in the near term probably is the cost of fuel."
[RELATED: Register now for our upcoming webinar on bolstering your bottom line!]
The Shippers Conditions Index tracks changes representing four major conditions in the U.S. full-load freight market. The conditions it tracks are freight demand, freight rates, fleet capacity and fuel price. Individual metrics are combined into a single index that tracks the market conditions that influence the shippers' freight transport environment. A positive score represents good, optimistic conditions. A negative score represents bad, pessimistic conditions.
