The Current State of the Freight Market

The Future of Freight (Summer 2019)

By Seth Newman:

On average, there is a total of $107.3 billion of freight shipped per month via all modes of transportation in the United States. That number is up almost 10 percent from 2017, but while some industries are thriving, others are shrinking. Here’s a look at the current freight market and how it’s shaping up for the future. 

According to LinkedIn, there’s three main freight markets that have shifted in the past two years. The agricultural market has shot up in production and freight since December 2017, while the manufacturing, construction and mining markets in the U.S. have declined. 

Freight Waves (www.freightwaves.com) helps break down the freight volume per month. Over 75 percent of the freight market is dominated by energy, agricultural and metals. Over 60 percent of the freight energy is coal, but that number is expected to drop as fewer wells and mines are being dug. The surging market for agriculture is next and that’s driven by the produce market. The produce market may be peaking this year though as the demand for produce to export has started to drop in recent years as other countries are able to start growing their own produce. 

As Uber, Lyft and other ride-shares continue to grow, the market for actual automobile buyers has shifted. According to Freight Waves, almost 25 percent of the car buying market are car rental companies. Those companies are also being affected by ride-share companies as the need for rentals continues to decline due to the use of ride-shares. The golden age of automobile manufacturing is behind us as the future of the market is expected to decline each year for the next ten years, but there’s still plenty of freight out there on the market. 

The last market we’ll take a look at is the retail market. To some expert’s surprise, this has held steady over the last few years. It’s consumer driven, but more and more brand-name companies will remove their brick-and-mortar stores in favor of large warehouses to ship online. There’s still plenty of need for the transportation of consumer goods as warehousing becomes a popular option for online sellers. 

Here’s a quick recap of the freight markets in this current state: 

Trending Up – Energy, Agriculture, Metals 

Trending Down – Construction, Automobile, Manufacturing

The freight market is constantly changing, but this should give you an idea of the current demands by potential customers who need help in transportation. There’s plenty of freight in all the markets, but this shows you what markets are more in need of transportation.