New data from the U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index found that the nation’s truck freight market saw a significant contraction in the first quarter of 2024.
According to the index, spending by shippers dipped by almost 28% from Q1 of 2023, and roughly 17% from the closing quarter of last year. Shipments were also down by more than 21% year-over-year for the quarter.
“While there was hope for a freight market turnaround to start the year, our data shows that the challenges continued,” U.S. Bank director of freight business analytics Bobby Holland said. According to Holland, this marked the eight straight quarter of year-over-year volume decreases, and the fifth straight in spending drops.
Those challenges were driven in part by spending that fell disproportionately to a drop in volume, said American Trucking Associations senior vice president Bob Costello, noting that truck capacity exceeded the amount of available freight. U.S. Bank also pointed to a variety of other issues in regions across the U.S.
In the West, the truck freight market was impacted by overcapacity, bad weather and less spending from consumers, leading to a 23% drop in shipments year-over-year. Although the Southwest saw higher volumes, weaker factory output saw shipments decrease by nearly 13%. A slowdown in auto sales led to an 18.5% drop in shipments in the Midwest, while winter storms and soft retail sales led to a 34% decrease in shipments in the Northeast.
