FTR’s Shippers Conditions Index improved marginally in January to a reading of +0.6

FTR’s Shippers Conditions Index improved in January to +0.6 from December’s reading of -1.8. Freight dynamics – utilization, rates and volume – were slightly favorable for shippers in January, but higher fuel costs offset almost all those benefits. The market outlook for shippers technically is negative after March through the forecast horizon, but the SCI is mostly very close to neutral over that period.

Avery Vise, FTR’s vice president of trucking, commented, “Broadly speaking, the freight market is still fairly comfortable for shippers despite softening over the past few months. However, conditions vary depending on freight profiles. For example, in the spot market for truck freight, 2025 has been rather sluggish for dry van and refrigerated equipment but has been increasingly hot for flatbed. In rail, carload volumes have been only marginally stronger than comparable 2024 weeks, but intermodal is still running strong year over year. Tariffs and anticipation of tariffs likely are big components of these distortions, and it will be advantageous for the whole supply chain to have clarity and certainty soon.”

The March FTR’s Shippers Update, published March 7, includes commentary discussing the changed data on trucking employment and implications for the truck freight market.

The Shippers Conditions Index tracks the changes representing four major conditions in the U.S. full-load freight market. These conditions are freight demand, freight rates, fleet capacity, and fuel price. The individual metrics are combined into a single index that tracks the market conditions that influence the shippers’ freight transport environment. A positive score represents good, optimistic conditions. A negative score represents bad, pessimistic conditions. The index summarizes the industry’s health at a glance.