Trucking Conditions Index Reflects More Balanced Market

FTR’s Trucking Conditions Index for October improved to 0.49 from -2.47 in September, indicating improved conditions for carriers.

“FTR’s outlook for the trucking market has not changed significantly since last month. Our forecast for freight volume next year is a bit weaker than it was previously, but we also have tightened our capacity assumption a bit based on preliminary government data regarding trucking employment. We still anticipate a modest increase in freight rates that might be just strong enough to disappoint both carriers and shippers. Tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada announced by President-elect Trump could yield some volatility in truck freight demand, but volume likely would balance out over the course of 2025,” says Avery Vise, FTR’s VP of trucking.

Key takeaways:

• Stronger utilization, lower capital costs, and less challenging freight rates were the main factors.
• FTR still expects the Trucking Conditions Index by the second quarter of next year to be consistently positive through at least 2026.