Bloomington, IN - FTR’s Trucking Conditions Index (TCI) for April at a reading of 11.5 reflects strong freight demand and continued tightness in capacity. Carriers can expect the favorable conditions to improve further into Q3 and stay elevated well into 2019. The tight labor market, including a shortage of drivers, is holding carriers back from taking full advantage of the higher rate environment even as it increases their labor costs.

Details of the April TCI are found in the June issue of FTR’s Trucking Update, published May 31, 2018. The ‘Notes by the Dashboard Light’ section in the current issue includes an assessment of the regulatory impacts on the market. Along with the TCI and ‘Notes by the Dashboard Light,’ the Trucking Update includes data and analysis on load volumes, the capacity environment, rates, costs, and the truck driver situation.

Avery Vise, vice president of trucking research commented, “The latest jobs report suggests that carriers' aggressive driver recruiting efforts are paying off but additional growth in freight volumes, continued impact from electronic logging device implementation, and extreme tightness in the overall labor market should keep conditions highly favorable for carriers. The TCI will remain at near record levels until at least the fourth quarter, when the market may begin to stabilize due to additional truck capacity.”

The Trucking Conditions Index tracks the changes representing five major conditions in the U.S. truck market. These conditions are: freight volumes, freight rates, fleet capacity, fuel price, and financing. The individual metrics are combined into a single index that tracks the market conditions that influence fleet behavior. A positive score represents good, optimistic conditions. Conversely, a negative score represents bad, pessimistic conditions. The index tells you the industry’s health at a glance. In life, running a fever is an indication of a health problem. It may not tell you exactly what’s wrong, but it alerts you to look deeper. Similarly, a reading well below zero on the FTR Trucking Conditions Index warns you of a problem, while readings high above zero spell opportunity. Readings near zero are consistent with a neutral operating environment, and double-digit readings (both up or down) are warning signs for significant operating changes.

To access charts suitable to accompany this press release, go to  http://info.ftrintel.com/l/66642/2015-08-26/3bmqkr

For more than two decades, FTR has been the thought leader in freight transportation forecasting in North America. The company’s national award-winning forecasters collect and analyze all data likely to impact freight movement, issuing consistently reliable reports for trucking, rail, and intermodal transportation, as well as providing demand analysis for commercial vehicle and railcar. FTR’s forecasting and specially designed reports have resulted in advanced planning and cost-savings for companies throughout the transportation sector.

Trucking Update, published monthly, is part of FTR’s Freight Focus series and reports data that directly impacts the activity and profitability of truck fleets. As part of the Trucking Update, FTR forecasts expected trends in this data and the probable short and long-term consequences.