The latest release of ACT’s For-Hire Trucking Index, showed volume, productivity, and the supply-demand balance all declined in September. The ACT For-Hire Trucking Index is a monthly survey of for-hire trucking service providers.

Concerning volume, Tim Denoyer, Vice President & Senior Analyst at ACT Research, commented, “It’s getting choppier out there, with more variance between freight data sets. While not comprehensive, our For-Hire Trucking Indexes draw from a strong top-tier community of medium and large fleets with a sharp sense of market conditions and direction. So, we view these results as cautionary leading indicators for the broader market.

“Like clockwork, six months after the market balance turned loose, rates have turned down broadly as contracts are re-priced,” he continued. “Downward pressure on freight demand related to inflation and interest rates, coupled with recovering equipment and driver capacity, will likely keep rates under pressure for a few more quarters.”

Regarding the supply-demand balance, Denoyer said, “The market fell to the loosest level since April 2020 in September, which portends additional rate pressure, but capacity growth has begun to slow, which is key to the bottoming process for rates.”