In The News

Syleconomics numbers show another strong month

Sylectus has released its November 2011 edition of “Syleconomics,” which examines the trucking industry’s performance based on data from Sylectus members.

While the October 2011 numbers declined just a bit from September 2011, they were still an improvement over October 2010.

Year-to-year, total revenue increased by 22 percent from October 2010, while total miles were up 12 percent and total revenue per mile was up 10 percent.

“October 2011 exceeded the same period last year, which is almost 2 years of ‘year over year’ growth on a monthly basis,” Sylectus president Stuart Sutton wrote in the report. “That is the good news. The ‘neutral news’ is that October (with the same number of business days as September) was slightly below September in terms of trips, miles and revenues.

“While there are valid reasons to be cautious of the freight economy, the ‘no growth’ demand environment is not concerning providing trucking companies don’t cave into price reduction wars. There is still a shortage of trucks and drivers in the market, so demand for equipment is still relatively strong and should buoy prices even in a softening market.  As you can see by the “rate per mile” data in the charts below, pricing is stable and 3rd quarter freight trends were materially better than the last 3 years.”

Sutton wrote that the October numbers’ comparison against September shouldn’t be a major cause for concern.

“From a ‘month over month’ perspective, October 2011 was slightly below September 2011,” Sutton wrote. “Although this slight dip is not good news, it should not be a significant red flag since the start of September was pushed a bit higher by the effects of the Hurricane season.”

Sutton foresees continued success for the trucking industry, even without significant growth in the overall economy.

“While economic growth in North America slowly trudges along, it is becoming clear that the U.S. will avoid a double-dip recession and trucking, with its capacity shortage, can outperform the macro economy,” he wrote. “In fact, if the economy takes off (low probability, but still possible), there will not be enough trucks and drivers to haul the freight.”

Learn more about Sylectus