Rob Estes, CEO, of Estes Express gave some disturbing stats:
- Dwell time is up (this is disturbing – we are supposed to be carrier friendly)
- Trailers for each tractor have grown from 1.5 to 4
The only good thing seems to be that LTL is losing volume that is uneconomic or low margin:
- Big shipments e.g.10,000 are going truck
- Minimums are going to parcel
Maybe this, combined with supply = demand, is why LTL carriers are:
- Pushing for rate increases – I hear from Jack Ampuja, the increase is 4.2%…
- Adding dimensions to all their terminals to get accurate classification
- Not waiving accessorial charges