Truckload Linehaul Index Shows Price Increases Continue

December’s Cass Truckload Linehaul Index continued the run of price increases that began in 2017 and capped 2018 as the highest year of realized pricing for truckload since deregulation in 1980. 

Setting a new all-time high of 144.2 (Jan 2005 = 100), the December Index increase of 7.2% (year over year) is significant given the increasingly tougher comparisons and the exclusion of fuel surcharge. “We expect continued nominal price increases in the coming months, but slightly lower percentage increases as comparisons grow increasingly tough,” stated Donald Broughton, analyst and commentator for the Cass indexes. “Our realized pricing forecast for 2019 is now 2% to 5%.” 

Total intermodal pricing (all-in intermodal costs) continued its uphill run, rising 8.6% YoY in December. On a nominal basis, the index rose to 145.8, still just slightly below the all-time record high of 147.3 established in October. December marked the 27th consecutive month of increases and brought the three-month (or fourth quarter) YoY moving average to 10.0%. 

“Tight truckload capacity and higher diesel prices were creating incremental demand and pricing power for domestic intermodal throughout much of 2018,” stated Donald Broughton, analyst and commentator for the Cass indexes. “However, with the recent decline in WTI crude from over $70 a barrel to under $50 a barrel, we are now expecting the price of fuel’s positive influence on the demand and pricing power for intermodal services to decrease in coming months.” 

Category: General Update, News