Transportation Market Update

Freight volumes remain significantly higher than the past two years, as consumers move the spending they were doing on services to goods.

According to Dat.com, “Typically, spending on services makes up more than half of all economic activity (services include health care, education and financial services), but as a result of the pandemic, consumer spending on services in the third quarter was down by 5.78% or $551 billion lower than the same period in 2019, while spending on goods was up $301 billion or 6.2% q/q…The current rise in COVID-19 cases would suggest the current freight volume imbalance at the commodity and lane level is likely to continue well into 2021 as consumers dig in for the long-haul.”

FreightWaves Sonar data shows that current outbound volumes have increased by 2% in the past two weeks, and are 62% higher than 2019 and 66% higher than 2018. COVID-19 case numbers are spiking across most of the United States, leading to dire warnings about full hospitals, exhausted health care workers and potential lockdowns, which will continue to affect capacity. It’s important to have a long-term strategy to get through these disruptions.

As the market continues to evolve, Schneider is here to help. See the full report here: