FTR’s Shippers Conditions Index improves in November due mostly to fuel costs

FTR’s Shippers Conditions Index improved by a point in November to a reading of 2.3, indicating a modestly favorable market for shippers. Lower fuel costs and marginal loosening of capacity resulted in better market conditions in November, offsetting less favorable freight rates and volume. The outlook for shippers’ conditions has improved slightly but remains close to neutral, and swings in fuel costs could yield both positive and negative outliers.

Avery Vise, FTR’s vice president of trucking, commented, “The freight market has entered a transitional phase in which shippers should no longer expect consistently favorable conditions as has been the case over the past two years. During that period, the SCI was negative only twice, and in both cases a spike in diesel prices was the key factor. As we enter 2025, shippers should expect a more balanced market but not one that is especially tough, at least not by the standards of years like 2021 and 2018. We still forecast SCI readings close to neutral over the next couple of years with only a marginally negative bias.”

The January FTR’s Shippers Update, published January 7 , includes discussion highlighting how potential tariffs might affect the overall U.S. economy.

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.