A survey of American manufacturers showed the slowest growth in December in 15 months, reflecting a dip in confidence among executives about how their businesses will perform in the new year. IHS Markit said its manufacturing PMI slipped to 53.8 in December from an initial reading of 53.9, and it was down from 55.3 in the prior month.
Author Archives: Jeffrey Goh
Oil started 2019 with another price slide as weaker Chinese manufacturing data pointed to slowing demand in the world’s second-biggest consumer of the fuel and to growing risks of a global crude surplus.
The U.S. average retail price of diesel dropped 2.9 cents to $3.048 a gallon, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported, as crude oil prices hovered around $45 per barrel.
Shippers’ frustration with their inability to pick up containers and return empties at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex is rising, as thousands of dollars’ worth of detention and demurrage charges are accumulating owing to an unusual period of congestion.
Air cargo volumes for November bucked normal seasonal trends and declined compared with October levels. The latest figures from analyst WorldACD show that there was a 1.4% year-on-year (YoY) decline in cargo volumes in November, but more surprisingly there was a slip of 2% compared with October. Usually air cargo demand increases in November as the industry enters its peak season.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending December 22, 2018. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 567,252 carloads and intermodal units, up 4.2 percent compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending December 22 were 277,111 carloads, up 3.1 percent compared with the same week in 2017, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 290,141 containers and trailers, up 5.3 percent compared to 2017.
Looking back, looking forward. It’s what we do here at the end of the year, an artificial boundary in time. Reporting on the trucking industry was eventful in 2018, and it looks to get even more exciting in 2019. Here are nine areas I believe we’ll be keeping a close eye on in the new year.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s pre-holiday granting of petitions to preempt California’s meal and rest break rules for truck drivers, which differ from current federal hours-of-service regulations, is being met with either cheers or jeers from a range of trucking stakeholders.
China will lower import taxes on more than 700 goods from January 1 in another round of tariff cuts as part of its efforts to open up the economy and lower costs for domestic consumers. There will also be cuts to some export tariffs, and temporary import tariff rates will be as low as zero for some goods, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Monday.
Orders to U.S. factories for long-lasting goods rose at a modest pace last month, but the gain was driven entirely by demand for military aircraft. Excluding transportation equipment, orders fell. Durable goods orders impact the trucking industry because trucks transport most of the goods once they are produced.