Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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16 commercial carrier journal | july 2016 MARKETPULSE T he following information is obtained from the May 2016 CCJ MarketPulse Report, a survey of 200 senior execu- tives at trucking companies who have agreed to participate monthly. The May 2016 CCJ MarketPulse Report received 79 completed responses from carrier executives. If you would like to participate in the CCJ MarketPulse survey, please email Jeff Crissey at jcrissey@randallreilly.com. Short-term outlook improving Month-to-month business conditions improved considerably from April to May, with 31.7 percent of all respondents saying May was better compared to only 15.1 percent who said it was worse. Compared to the same month last year, however, only 25.3 percent of respondents said May 2016 was better than May 2015 compared to 53.2 percent who said it was worse. Over the next six months, 31.6 percent of respondents expect business conditions to improve, while 15.2 percent expect them to worsen. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 5.56 in May 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 rebounds from sluggish April The Carrier Sentiment Index for May was 5.56 – a sharp turnaround from the 5.0 recorded in April. 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 5.54 (5.02 in April), while the level for those with up to 100 power units was 5.6 (4.96 in April). SOURCE: CCJ MARKETPULSE REPORT Mounting concern over freight pricing After spending one month as the second-leading concern for respondents, driver availability again grabs the top spot in May. Freight volume fell as a top concern from 39.7 percent in April to 30.4 percent in May. The survey also revealed more concern over freight pricing, which jumped from 19.2 percent in April to 27.8 percent in May. Freight volume fell as a top concern for respondents with up to 100 power units from 44 percent in April to just 25 percent in May, but fell only slightly (32.2 percent in May vs. 37.7 percent in April) for respondents with more than 100 power units. 1 = WORST 10 = BEST Fleet sizes to remain steady Respondents with more than 100 power units are more likely to add capacity in the next six months (42.4 percent) compared to those with up to 100 power units (30 percent). Overall, only 5.1 percent of respondents intend to cut fleet size compared to 9 percent in the April survey. 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 39.2% 30.0% 42.4% Replace aging equipment but keep fleet size the same 40.5% 45.0% 39.0% Decrease the size of our fleet 5.1% 5.0% 5.1% Make no change in our fleet 15.2% 20.0% 13.5% 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 Regulation Freight volume 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% Jan. June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Feb. March Other Freight pricing April May Carrier top concerns 2015 2016 "Capacity balance (trucks vs. available freight) seems to swing more quickly than it has historically." – CCJ MarketPulse respondent