The British International Freight Association (BIFA), the trade association for UK freight forwarders, says that 2016 will see its members continuing to face numerous challenges, with some the result of legislative changes and government policy, rather than economic issues.
Containership reliability was broadly unchanged in November as the average on-time performance across all trades slipped by just 0.8 percentage points against October to 77.2 percent, according to Carrier Performance Insight, the online schedule reliability tool provided by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors.
The TransCore Link Logistics Canadian Freight Index fell behind in November, following its traditional drop this time of year, with volumes declining eight percent compared to October. While year-over-year volumes also dropped 28 percent, this is compared to historic highs set throughout 2014.
Following an established seasonal pattern, spot market freight volume declined 15 percent in November, month over month, largely due to a drop in demand for flatbed trucks. Freight volume has declined in November in every year except 2012, according to the DAT North American Freight Index, which has recorded monthly spot market freight levels since 1997.
Nearly two decades ago, just as e-commerce was taking off, a group of players emerged to claim their share of the home-delivery market. Remember Webvan, Urbanfetch, Kozmo, and HomeGrocer?
The Stifel Logistics Confidence Index fell into a fifth consecutive month of decline in October. Significantly, the index has now fallen beneath the neutral 50 point mark for the first time since January 2013, with confidence in both the sea freight and airfreight markets plummeting. The Logistics Situation for airfreight was especially bad, declining by 3.2 points to 45.7. The same trends that influenced last month's decline are persisting, with weak emerging market growth, China's financial crisis, and the Chinese shift towards domestic consumption all influencing the trajectory of the index.
NG powered Class 8 truck and bus sales continue, but at a slower pace compared to 2014, as well as when calculated as a percentage of the total market, according to a report from ACT Research. The "Natural Gas Quarterly" attributes the rapidly declining cost of diesel with making the return on investment for adoption of natural gas less lucrative.