It’s once again time for the latest news and data from Randall-Reilly’s Weekly Report. Watch the video, listen to the audio version, or read the full transcript below.
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Check out the Data for Yourself
Want to go over the trucking industry data yourself? No problem! All of the information covered in our Weekly Report video is available for your convenience in PDF form below.
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Weekly Report – January 13, 2021 Full Transcript
Hello everyone, welcome to Randall-Reilly’s Weekly Report, where every week we take a look back to help you move forward. Let’s jump right into this week’s report.
This Week in Job Searches and Clicks
With the first full week of 2021 behind us there was increase in both searches and clicks among all major driver types. This isn’t surprising as the beginning of a new year is typically a time for drivers to show interest in new jobs; and hiring among fleets tend to be on the rise.
Truck driver searches were up 15% WoW, down 10% MoM, and up 55% YoY. On the posting side of things clicks were up 25% WoW, up 5% MoM, and down 48% YoY.
This Week in Freight
It seems that the year is off to a strong start as tuck postings rose 55% WoW and load volume in the truckstop.com system jumped 52% WoW… a record high for volume. While all segments did see higher volumes, it was the gains for flatbed trucking that really skyrocketed. They spiked by 86% WoW, while dry van rose 39% WoW, and refrigerated came in with a gain of 9% WoW.
And finally, coming off of last week’s record high spot rates the broker-posted rate per mile fell 18¢ WoW.
Story of the Week
The big question seems to be – when will the next wave of trucking capacity hit the market?
Spot rates have simply expanded too much and for too long to not see a growth in capacity. Orders for Class 8 trucks spiked as 2020 came to a close with orders in November and December being on par with the orders made in July and August of 2018. Most forecasts show demand remaining elevated throughout the first half of 2021. These orders seem to indicate carriers are much more optimistic about the long-term than earlier in the year.
Trucking’s employment level, however, has dropped by more than half a million YoY, going from 15.3 million in November of 2019 to 14.8 million in November of 2020.
Driver schools continue to operate below capacity and the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse removed thousands of drivers from the employment pool. Moving forward it would seem that it will be easier to order new trucks than seating them.
And that’s our Weekly Report. We hope you’ve found the information useful and we look forward to seeing back here next Wednesday for an all-new edition.
