November 11 2020

Freight Insight for Week of November 9

Thanks for tuning in to Sunset’s market outlook column. The following insights are taken from a weekly discussion between Sunset’s seven branches.

Trends and discussions range from seasonal manufacturing and agriculture trends that affect available capacity to general insight into outside factors affecting freight volumes.

Below is a summary of the November 11 call:

FREIGHT VOLUMES & CAPACITY

  • There is no end in sight for COVID-19 repercussions. States are considering reinstating stay-at-home orders and limited operations for businesses. This will CONTINUE to impact capacity and freight availability.
  • Sunset is seeing customer load counts rising. It APPEARS freight is softening but as Thanksgiving comes closer, things could change from week to week.
  • Spot loads are increasing as per the past few months’ trends while contract rates are being rejected more frequently across many industries.
  • Shippers are advised to plan for rising costs in the near to mid future – fuel is going to increase and capacity will be tight going into the holiday season and the tightening coronavirus mandates expected to come.
  • Sunset is now offering transloading out of Mexico – a new service to our cross-border shippers!
CONTRIBUTORS
  • Grand Haven, MI: Doug Bryant
  • Green Bay, WI: Rick Kerr
  • Laredo, TX: Jose Minarro
  • Nashville, TN: Jonathan Falcon
  • St. Louis, MO: Justin Danks
  • St. Paul, MN: Mike Morris
  • Wilson, NC: Mary McCallister