Made of silver?
Ya'd think so!Made of silver?
...and, Sept/Oct approacheth.The market is back to normal. Bad is good, good is bad.
If it is not nailed, bolted or conceted then beware.Like the theft of copper , tool theft from their utes is a huge problem on sites, tradies say.
Just a bit more on freight indicators.For some commentators, supply side issues have been the driving force behind recent bouts of inflation.
Well going by the two main freight indices, the freight component is no longer an issue.
Firstly the BDI. Its now at the same level it was in 1the late 1970's, well down from recent highs, and 85% down from the all time highs in 2007.
View attachment 161294
Then there is the container freight index.
Once again its back to where it was pre covid days.
View attachment 161295
August 24, 2023
Two transportation brokers report that truck rates are extremely low without a lot of hope of overall improvement on the horizon. On the other hand, a San Joaquin Valley grape shipper said his rates have been climbing as he recently secured a load to Texas that was about 15 percent higher in mid-August than it was earlier in the month.
“Trucking is not a way to get rich right now,” said Mark Durfee, general manager of Giltner Logistics, based in Twin Falls, ID. “There are no earth-shattering rates out there. Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah are soft. The Southeast is soft. The Midwest is soft. You tell your California grape shipper to give me a call. I’ll find him a truck.”
Yet Jared Lane, CEO of Grapeco Farms, based in Delano, CA, insists his rates have been climbing and as California grape shipments are expected to continue to increase for at least another month. He said truckers have the upper hand. “The rates are not as high as they were a couple of years ago, but they are increasing. The rate (to his Texas buyer) was $4,600 last week and this week it was $5,200,” he said on Aug. 16.
Durfee agreed. He said some produce haulers can demand more for isolated pockets, but overall truck rates are down and not keeping up with costs. He noted on Aug. 17 that from Central California to Boston, a spot rate of $8,000 is currently on the high side, with many being much lower than that. Typically, July and August will see produce truck rates hit their peak as tree fruit and grape volume from the San Joaquin Valley creates great demand, but that has not happened this year.
Durfee added that “Southern California and Arizona are just wastelands right now if you are on the spot market. The rates are horrible.”
Coast-to-coast summer rates can easily surpass five digits. During the peak of the truck shortage in 2020 and 2021, cross-country rates above $13,000 were not unheard of. That equates to a per mile cost well above $4.
“Right now, truckers are only getting $2.50 per mile and often have to settle for $1.50 for the backhaul,” Stenderup said.
He blamed the lower rates mostly on the efficiency of the marketplace, not on an oversupply of trucks or an undersupply of product. He noted that the truck boards create a situation where everyone — including the shipper and buyer — can see almost exactly where the demand is and where the trucks are.
Those truck boards also allow truckers to efficiently move from one load to the next. In essence that lets a trucker do more hauls in a month or a year. More hauls mean more supply even though the actual supply hasn’t increased.
Normally it takes us 4-5 days to book a truck for direct shipments. Right now we’re able to get a truck within 24 hours. A couple weeks ago we had one in one hour, a full trucks, not LTL (Less Than Truckload).
Prices are down now 25-35 percent from a year ago or so. Prices are up a bit the last few weeks, mostly from Yellow/Holland shuttering.
RV trailers are also in the basement.
MickMy contact friend ships liquid consumable chemicals to greenhouse and nursery operations for water treatment.
There will be an increase in shipping but will that happen before an industry shakedown with a huge number of bankruptcies? Before a full blown recession?
except a tax-payer strikeAs one might expect, the ACT seems almost immune to any forms of slowdown.
It must be fun to live there, being completely removed from economic constraints.except a tax-payer strike
The fly in the ointment is of course fuel increases.Australia’s inflation readings continued to cool rapidly for July and should be shifting the conversation in financial markets away from whether the peak in interest rates has been reached, to a far bigger discussion about the timing of coming interest rate cuts.
The monthly consumer-price index rose 4.9 per cent in the 12 months to July, well below the expected rise of 5.2 per cent, and compares with an increase of 5.4 per cent over the year to June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. The stellar July result compares with a peak in December of an 8.4 per cent increase.
The rapid cooling in prices growth so far in 2023 will already be putting downward pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s recent forecast that inflation will run at a rate of just 4.1 per cent by the end of this year, down from 6.0 per cent in the second quarter.
So dramatic is the capitulation in inflation pressures, it won’t be long before the guns of the media and economic commentators are turned back on the RBA for tightening interest rates too far in the first place.
With Michele Bullock set to become RBA governor in just a matter of weeks, it now looks likely that she will soon be able to start talking about the prospect of reducing interest rates in early next year, instead of the second half of 2024 as most economists currently expect.
Looks like a soft landing. Congrats due to all involved.Oz inflation continuing to fall.
Evil Murdoch Press
The fly in the ointment is of course fuel increases.
Diesel is well over $2 in our area, so with so much of our economy dependent on transport via trucks, that will not make transport costs weaken too much.
Mick
Thanks.Looks like a soft landing. Congrats due to all involved.
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