It's hard to keep saying over and over again "The sky is falling"! We try and search for the light at the end of the tunnel but it seems they keep extending the length of the tunnel. At this point, we'd have to conclude we will be in a rising rate environment with very tight TL carrier capacity and sub-standard LTL carrier performance thru the end of 2021.
We hoped to be surprised in the other direction, but for now the message remains to expect disruption. For the umpteenth time - this is national and no shipper out there is experiencing anything different!
Oh, by the way, we are hearing the Chicago market is going to be a real mess with missed pick-ups and late deliveries so expect it! Apparently, the severe rail congestion at multiple ports is causing a massive imbalance in equipment the LTL carriers use for rail traffic.
The Broughton Capital Truck Freight Barometers were released this week which are always a good read. Below are some excerpts and charts from their models for Truckload and Flatbed.



