July indicators continue to propel trucking growth in 2015

In what overall has been a steady year of growth throughout the trucking sector the major July indicators that have just been published show that the industry reached another 2015 high water mark for that month. Excellent news for the full truckload services and urgent freight in general as the trucking industry continues to deliver encouraging results.

The FTR monthly Trucking Conditions index set a new high mark in July showing consecutive months of growth to offset some slowing that was seen in late spring/early summer. As you can see on the graphic below the index has for the most part mirrored the 2014 results (in blue) which suggests that the remainder of the year should boast good results with based on no major changes to current economic conditions.

image courtesy CCJ

Freight forecasts were revised upwards in both the first and second quarters of the year and FTR have indicated that they anticipate the surge to remain in place for the remainder of the year. Recent stock market wobbles do not seem to have impacted trucking to any measurable extent, in fact the results of the last few months suggest that the industry is determined to carve out its own independent results while Wall St. numbers bounces back and forth.

Manufacturing growth slowed somewhat during the summer months as is typical, but consumer demand and a backlog of retail inventories have each helped see freight demand lose little if any momentum.