Transportation market loosened as September progressed

From FreightWaves.

Transportation capacity increased for a sixth consecutive month in September with prices falling for a third straight time, according to data released Tuesday.

The Logistics Managers’ Index (LMI), which is produced using responses from a monthly survey measuring supply chain activity, showed the transportation capacity subindex jumped 7.5 percentage points to 71.8 in the recent month. This was the second-highest level recorded in the six-year history of the data set and 48 points higher than the mark recorded two years ago when the economy was emerging from COVID lockdowns.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion while one below 50 indicates contraction.

“This month’s reading only trails behind April 2019’s reading of 72.0 — a reading which marked the beginning of the freight recession of 2019,” the report read. “Whether or not a freight recession similar to what we saw in 2019 is imminent or not, it is clear that the snapback that was always going to come after two straight years of contraction is here.”

The outlook for the next year calls for capacity to remain elevated as well. The forward-looking expectation inched one point higher to 65.3.

See the complete article from FreightWaves online.