Fourth-Quarter Trucking Report: Analyzing the Peak Season

After nearly four years of depressed freight demand, trucking appears poised for a recovery, but how much of a recovery? Freight and economic indicators such as the Cass Freight Shipments Index and the S&P Global US Manufacturing PMI are pointing up. Plenty of containerized freight is waiting to move inland, and retailers are positioning goods near stores. But it's not clear how much additional freight will hit the highway during trucking's peak fall season. It is clear that shippers will have less capacity to call on than in any recent year. Record-breaking fuel prices, a broad-based regulatory crackdown and concerns about accident liability are all tightening capacity. Any wave of demand hitting constrained capacity will push transportation rates even higher -- not the Christmas surprise shippers want.

This webcast will analyze what we know and estimate what we don't know about this year's pre-holiday peak season for trucking and truck shippers.