September 3PL Perspectives Article: Transportation Market Continues Hot Streak
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“I have never seen a market like this in my entire career,” said Kristy Knichel, CEO of Knichel Logistics, summing up the freight market for 2018. Coming from someone with 25 years’ experience in the industry, this speaks volumes. With that in mind, expect these current market conditions to continue well into 2019 and potentially beyond.
The Union Pacific Railroad has stated they were experiencing higher freight volumes in June of this year than they were at the height of the 2017 peak season, strongly indicating that we are already well into a much-earlier-than-usual peak season.
Their contractual market is booked, meaning that Union Pacific will not entertain any new business due to being over capacity. For their part, the railroad has added 3,500 new steel EMP boxes and 2,850 chassis to help alleviate the upcoming fourth quarter crush. However, the adding of new boxes alone will not help fluidity. They are also attempting to add crews and train power, yet we anticipate there will be little relief felt during the fourth quarter despite these efforts.
