December 2, 2024

Surface Transportation

Trucking | Rail | Intermodal | Air & Expedited | Distribution

The 10-year average is 128.2 for the Contract ISI and 114.5 for the Spot ISI .

Bid season uncertainty

How the current ISI reading will translates into the bid season now underway for contracts going live in early 2025 is uncertain .

In conversations with the Journal of Commerce , shippers say they would like to negotiate flat rates in truckload and intermodal , noting that spot market rates , including fuel , do not show any signs of swinging upward . If rates needed to be adjusted , then shippers say they ’ d consider adjustments mid-contract .

Trucking rates , excluding fuel , are higher than a year ago , but diesel prices are down about 20 % over that time , according to the US Energy Information Administration , resulting in the average all-in invoice being lower than a year ago for both trucking and intermodal .

How the current ISI translates into the bid season for contracts in early 2025 is uncertain .

Contract intermodal , truckload pricing to stagnate until 2025 bids

Average contract rates for US truckload and intermodal rail , in USD per mile

USD per mile

$ 2.6 $ 2.4

$ 2.2 $ 2.0 $ 1.0 1.8 $ 1.6 $ 1.4 $ 1.2 $ 1.0

L Jan 2023 Jul

Jan 2024

Contract Truckload Shipper Rates

Jul Contract Intermodal Shipper Rates

Oct , 2024

Truckload carriers would like to secure low- to mid-single digit rate increases ; historically , intermodal ends up a couple of percentage points below trucking .

Hub Group CEO Phil Yeager said on an Oct . 30 earnings call that intermodal providers universally want rate increases . Providers believe a rate increase is warranted because volume rose 4.8 % year over year between January and September , according to the Intermodal Association of North America , without any major domestic intermodal service disruptions .

The data behind the Contract ISI and Spot ISI is available to Journal of Commerce subscribers with a Gold-tier subscription .

December 2, 2024 | Page 41