Low Freight Demand and Hours Rule Hurting Trucker Productivity

BLOOMINGTON, IN. — FTR’s Shippers Conditions Index (SCI) was still sitting in negative territory in August, but shipping rates, for the time being, are still being held in check.

The Index has been dropping slowly all summer, FTR said, “reflecting the offsetting forces of lost trucking productivity and capacity due to the revised Hours of Service regulations on trucking capacity versus relative modest freight demand and moderating fuel costs.”

“Early Q3 financial reporting by the publicly traded large motor carriers appears to be confirm that the HOS changes are hurting productivity and raising trucker’s operating costs,” said FTR Senior Consultant Larry Gross. “However, carriers are still finding it difficult to pass these costs along to shippers due to lackluster demand for freight. We expect that rates will eventually begin to respond to this cost pressure and begin to rise, but perhaps not before next year.”