{"id":202638,"date":"2025-09-05T15:28:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T15:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/202638\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T15:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T15:28:12","slug":"freight-market-showed-hopeful-signs-in-q2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/202638\/","title":{"rendered":"Freight Market Showed Hopeful Signs in Q2"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index found that national shipment volume increased 2.4% from the previous quarter and spending increased 1.2%, marking the first sequential gain in both metrics in three years. (vitpho\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

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The freight market showed signs of recovery in the second quarter despite ongoing issues preventing it from truly turning a corner, according to experts.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index found that national shipment volume increased 2.4% from the previous quarter and spending increased 1.2%, marking the first sequential gain in both metrics in three years. The report<\/a> highlighted that all five regions in the country posted sequential volume gains, with the Southwest leading at 6.7%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second quarter\u2019s sequential growth in both shipments and spending are a welcome shift after years of contraction,\u201d said Bobby Holland, director of freight business analytics at U.S. Bank. \u201cHowever, with all of the tariff-related volatility<\/a> potentially impacting trucking activity, it is too soon to say if the market has turned the corner.\u201d\n \t <\/p>\n

The U.S. Bank report was less favorable when it came to year-over-year comparisons; it found that national shipments decreased 9.8%, and spending declined 4.9%. The report noted, however, that this was the smallest year-over-year decrease in shipments since Q3 2023.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> US Imports Slow as Trump Tariffs Ripple Through Supply Chain<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWith unevenness in key freight drivers like manufacturing, housing and port activity, the quarter-over-quarter gains are encouraging,\u201d said Bob Costello, chief economist at American Trucking Associations<\/a>. \u201cThere are signs the industry is beginning to rebalance, even if the road ahead remains bumpy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are signs the industry is beginning to rebalance, even if the road ahead remains bumpy,” American Trucking Associations Chief Economist Bob Costello said. (Truckload Carriers Association)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Trucking Ton-Mile Index for June<\/a> showed a continued weakening of seasonally adjusted freight demand when the quarter ended. It found that activity declined 0.2% sequentially from May but increased 1% year over year. The report is co-authored by Michigan State University professor Jason Miller and University of Tennessee professor Yemisi Bolumole.<\/p>\n

Miller noted that the 1% annual gain was \u201cprimarily driven by more output in primary metals, a little bit more in some quarrying activity.\u201d He added, \u201cIt was really driven by the specialized sector, but a 1% year-over-year increase isn\u2019t that much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller said that while some sectors are doing better than others, these pockets of strength are relatively few and far between and still face tariff impacts. He isn\u2019t all that encouraged by the next two quarters either, with there being no real signs of a sustained increase in demand; rather, he sees more downside risks.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Phares, assistant professor of supply chain management at Iowa State University, said Q2 variability in freight from month to month leveled out in a way that was abnormal, and he suspects that tariffs could have additional negative impacts on freight volume and pricing as they go into place long term.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe might see an additional softening in purchasing power from consumers that could lead to additional declines in freight volumes,\u201d Phares said. \u201cThat\u2019s not guaranteed, but we do know that \u2014 especially the poorest households \u2014 are seeing grocery prices that are much higher.\u201d Phares warned that this could lead to less discretionary income for consumers, further threatening freight volume.<\/p>\n

\u201cStuck is the word we\u2019ve been using for several quarters now,\u201d said Ken Adamo, chief of analytics at DAT Freight & Analytics. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen no real movement up or down in the last several quarters, present quarter included. Especially on the contract side, it\u2019s been remarkable how little movement we\u2019ve seen in contract dry van rates over the last couple of years. On the spot side, you tend to see a little bit more choppiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adamo noted that seasonality trends started showing up toward the end of Q2, especially regarding rates. But he also suspects a large portion of the capacity pool is operating near breakeven, meaning tighter conditions could cause capacity crunches around seasonal events. And he noted that this is happening absent of any major shift in freight demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tariff stuff is just throwing an absolute curveball into everything,\u201d Adamo said. \u201cI think part of the problem is it\u2019s just been in low to no growth for way too long, and it\u2019s not flushed enough of the capacity out of the market that could lead to a more systemic recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more news?<\/strong> Listen to today’s daily briefing below\u00a0or go here for more info:<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index found that national shipment volume increased 2.4% from the previous quarter and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":202639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[64,79,111944,111945,135,24925,2175,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-202638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-freight-market","11":"tag-freight-volume","12":"tag-markets","13":"tag-supply-chain","14":"tag-tariffs","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115152401410931804","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}