Sales during the U.S. holiday shopping season rose 5.1 percent to over $850 billion in 2018, the strongest in the past six years, according to a Mastercard report, as shoppers were encouraged by a robust economy and early discounts.
Author Archives: Jeffrey Goh
Diesel powers trucking, and as diesel prices fluctuate they can provide boons or headaches for the industry. In 2018, a variety of factors pushed the price of trucking’s main fuel up and down, including capacity crunches, severe weather catastrophes and geopolitical events.
Hopes last month for a rebound in peak season may have dimmed, as October’s decline in year-over-year air cargo traffic seems to have extended into November. Outliers to this trend include, again, Turkish Airlines, Air China, and China Southern Airlines. Most carriers and airports, however, do show continued positive year-to-date traffic compared to the same period in the year prior.
The effects of the partial shutdown of the federal government on the rail community appear not to be significant, at least for now. The action comes as President Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress remain locked in a budget dispute over funding for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
A deeper dive into trucking data showed a big year for the industry across three specific sectors, particularly after July. The numbers also portend glad tidings for 2019.
Trucking’s Hail Mary Pass to make federal hours-of-service laws fully the law of the land, both theoretically and practically, has been successfully completed. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced on Dec. 21 that it is granting petitions to preempt the State of California’s meal and rest break rules for truck drivers, which differ from current federal hours-of-service regulations.
2018 was a year of new technologies and new regulations for the trucking industry and our 10 most popular news stories of the year covered the gamut. From potential hours of service changes to the legalization of marijuana to global trade deals, we covered it all to keep our readers informed throughout the year.
Without a doubt, 2018 was a banner year for trucking and almost every other form of freight transportation. Spurred in part by a cut in corporate taxes, business investment took off, hiring picked up and freight volume soared with both domestic and international shipments sharing in the bounty.
Sentiment among U.S. homebuilders fell in December to the lowest level since 2015, missing all forecasts and signaling that the industry’s struggles are intensifying amid elevated prices and higher borrowing costs.
The Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported this week that the national average price per gallon for diesel gasoline dropped for the ninth straight week for the weekending December 17.