- “Volatility continues to reign in 2016. This month’s tonnage reading highlights this fact and underscores the difficulty in determining any real or clear trend in truck tonnage,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “What is clear to me is that normal seasonal patterns are not holding in 2016.”
News / Industry News
“While the U.S. LEI declined in August, its trend still points to moderate economic growth in the months ahead,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, Director of Business Cycles and Growth Research at The Conference Board. “Although strengths and weaknesses among the leading indicators are roughly balanced, positive contributions from the financial indicators were more than offset by weakening of nonfinancial indicators, such as leading indicators of labor markets, suggesting some risks to growth persist.” – The Conference Board
October is expected to be the second-busiest month of the year for the nation’s major retail container ports as merchants stock up for the holiday shopping season, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 156,000 in September, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 5.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment gains occurred in professional and business services and in health care.
Institute for Supply Management
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in September following one month of contraction in August, and the overall economy grew for the 88th consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM® Report On Business®.
American Trucking Associations
American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 5.7% in August, following a 2.1% decline during July. In August, the index equaled 141.8 (2000=100), up from 134.2 in July. The all-time high was 144 in February.
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The National Retail Federation and the Hardwood Federation today led a coalition of 120 organizations representing retailers, manufacturers, agribusinesses and other sectors affected by the Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy in sending a letter to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker outlining specific concerns and urging her continued leadership in bringing about a resolution.
August’s Cass Freight Index continued to signal that overall shipment volumes (and pricing) are persistently weak, with increased levels of volatility as all levels of the supply chain (manufacturing, wholesale, retail) continue to try and work down inventory levels. That said, there have been a few areas of growth, mostly related to e-commerce, with lower levels of expansion being experienced in transit modes serving the auto and housing/construction industries. All of this added up to slightly lower shipment volumes in August on a YoY (year-over-year) basis, marking the eighteenth straight month of year-over-year decline. That said, at least on a seasonally adjusted basis, August volume was up sequentially, offering a glimmer of hope that the contraction in volumes may be getting closer to an end.
As previously detailed in our Supply Chain Alert, Hanjin Shipping, the world’s seventh-largest container shipper, filed for bankruptcy protection on August 31. Hanjin’s collapse is by far the largest container shipping bankruptcy in history and the consequences continue to reverberate throughout international supply chains and the transportation sector.
Although Hanjin is not among MIQ’s core carriers, we do have cargo caught up in this situation because of vessel share agreements by our core-carriers and shipper-specific arrangements. Our immediate task, therefore, is to obtain cargo release; mitigate any extra costs and expenses; and, deliver our clients’ cargo.