Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/741843
22 commercial carrier journal | october 2016 MARKETPULSE Business is better, but not as good as last year Month-to-month business conditions improved, with 34.6 percent of all respondents saying August was better than July and only 14.7 percent saying it was worse (23.3 percent last month). However, only 21.3 percent of respondents said August was better than August 2015, with 56.0 percent indicating it was worse. Over the next six months, 29.3 percent of respondents expect business conditions to improve, while 14.7 percent expect them to worsen. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 5.5 in August B E S T M O N T H E V E R W O R S T M O N T H E V E R Carrier sentiment improves The Carrier Sentiment Index for August was 5.5, up from 5.2 reported in July. The index assesses the month on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the carrier's worst month and 10 being the best. The index level for carriers with more than 100 power units was 5.6 (5.2 in July), while the level for those with up to 100 power units rose slightly to 5.3 (5.1 in July). SOURCE: CCJ MARKETPULSE REPORT Driver shortage top of mind Driver availability (41.4 percent) grew significantly month-over-month as the top concern for survey respondents, followed by freight volume (29.3 percent) and freight pricing (21.3 percent). Continuing a recent trend, 25.0 percent of respon- dents with up to 100 power units list freight pricing as their top concern, while 35.5 percent of respondents with more than 100 power units list freight volume as their primary concern. 1 = WORST 10 = BEST Fleets not looking to add equipment 32.0 percent of all respondents said they plan to grow their fleets in the next six months, including 25.0 percent of respondents with up to 100 power units. Respon- dents with more than 100 power units are more likely to add capacity in the next six months (35.3 percent). Compared to last month, more respondents (6.7 percent) intend to decrease fleet size compared to the previous month's survey (5.2 percent). IN THE NEXT 6 MONTHS, WE PLAN TO: UP TO 100 MORE THAN 100 OVERALL POWER UNITS POWER UNITS Increase the size of our fleet 32.0% 25.0% 35.3% Replace aging equipment but keep fleet size the same 37.3% 41.7% 35.3% Decrease the size of our fleet 6.7% 8.3% 5.9% Make no change in our fleet 24.0% 25.0% 23.5% CCJ MarketPulse is brought to you by Shell Rotella. 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% Much worse Better Much better More than 100 power units Up to 100 power units Overall Worse Same 0% Business forecast for the next 6 months Driver availability Political climate in Washington Freight volume 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% Jan. June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Feb. March Regulation Freight pricing April May Carrier top concerns 2015 2016 "Many shippers do not understand how big an impact ELDs will have on capacity. They're in for a rude awakening." – CCJ MarketPulse respondent T he following information is obtained from the August 2016 CCJ MarketPulse Report, a survey of more than 200 senior executives at trucking companies who have agreed to participate monthly. The Au- gust 2016 CCJ MarketPulse Report received 75 completed responses from carrier executives. If you would like to participate in the CCJ MarketPulse survey, please email Jeff Crissey at jcrissey@randallreilly.com.