nagement and ALERTdata.com.

Updated with the latest

istics every month, there are five U.S. logistics market
abooks available now:

priceTRENDS

uck Transportation

r Transportation

aterborne

ail Transportation

PL/Warehousing Services

h Negotiators Benchmark Databook has helpful summary

es and also reports on detailed cost categories in labor,
erials, fuel, and purchased services. Index data and spending
$100 of sales) data provide insights into price/cost escalation
estimated mark-ups. With 10 years of monthly data, youll
long-term trends as well as the most recent turning points in
es, costs, and margins.

Pricing across the transportation modes

4

Forecast

2
Go to www.peerlessmedia.com/datacenter
peerlessmedia.com/datacenter

140
139

-4

138
2014

2015

2016

% change (left scale)

% CHANGE VS.:

Air Transportation
Waterborne

2017

137

Index 2001=100 (right scale)

1 month ago 6 mos. ago

General freight - local

TL
LTL
Tanker & other specialized freight

Truck Transportation

141

-2
-6

For timely and accurate

insights on markups and
costs in the transportation
services market, there is
no better resource than the
Negotiators Benchmark
Databook from Logistics
Management and ALERTdata.
com. Updated with the latest
statistics every month, there
are five U.S. logistics market
databooks available now:

142

0.0
-0.6
-0.3
-0.4

0.1
-1.5
0.8
-1.7

1 yr. ago

0.3
-2.7
-1.4
-2.3

175

172

169

-2

166

-4

Forecast

-6

2014

2015

% change (left scale)

% CHANGE VS.:

2016

160

Index 2001=100 (right scale)

1 month ago

Air freight on scheduled flights

Air freight on chartered flights
Domestic air courier
International air courier

2017

163

0.5
2.8
0.0
0.0

6 mos. ago

1 yr. ago

-3.3
-2.3
-0.1
-0.6

Forecast

-3.7
-11.5
2.1
0.7
190

Rail Transportation

3PL/Warehousing Services

184

Each Negotiators
Benchmark Databook has
helpful summary pages and
also reports on detailed cost
categories in labor, materials,
fuel, and purchased services.
Index data and spending
(per $100 of sales) data
provide insights into price/
cost escalation and estimated
mark-ups. With 10 years of
monthly data, youll see longterm trends as well as the
most recent turning points in
prices, costs, and margins.
For more information on
these valuable databooks,
go to:
peerlessmedia.com/
datacenter

181

-3

178

ALERTdata.com
ALERTdata.com

-6

2014

2015

% change (left scale)

% CHANGE VS.:

2016

175

Index 2001=100 (right scale)

1 month ago

Deep sea freight

-2.6
Coastal & intercoastal freight
0.3
Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Seaway -0.7
Inland water freight
-1.2

6 mos. ago

1 yr. ago

-7.8
-1.7
-1.7
-2.0

-7.0
-3.0
-1.8
-6.8

180

177

174

-2

171

-4

Forecast

-6

2014

2015

% change (left scale)

2016

2017

168
165

Index 2001=100 (right scale)

% CHANGE VS.:

1 month ago

6 mos. ago

1 yr. ago

Rail freight
Intermodal
Carload

-0.1
-0.5
-0.1

-1.7
-4.2
-1.2

-4.9
-9.0
-4.3

10

2017

187

L OGISTICS MANA GEM ENT | FEBRUARY 2016

TRUCKING
Year-end reports suggest that trucking capacity
increased significantly in 2015, and the size of the labor
pool grew modestly, yielding a 0.4% increase in trucker
wages. On top of that, fuel costs plummeted. All told,
total costs to operate the typical trucking firm decreased
6.9% last year. These trends, as a result, produced a
solid uptick in the trucking industrys pre-tax gross operating surplus. Comparing 2015 to the previous year, we
estimate the industrys margins increased by $5.29 for
every $100 worth of services sold. This will help hold the
annual inflation rate for truckings transaction prices to
1.1% in 2016 and again in 2017.

AIR
Wholesale jet fuel prices plummeted 39% in December 2015 compared to same-month-year-ago prices.
Added to this budget boon, average annual wages for airline workers declined 1.4% last year. These events helped
boost the U.S. airline industrys margins to the same high
levels enjoyed back in 2008. Indeed, we estimate this
industrys pre-tax gross operating surplus increased by
$7.04 for every $100 worth of services sold in 2015. In
nearly all airliner categories surveyed by the U.S. Labor
Department, transaction prices fell last year. In airfreight
service via scheduled flights, we saw a 4.4% price decline
in last year and continue to forecast increases of 0.5% in
2016 and 1.4% in 2017.

WATER
Updated economic analysis of price and cost
trends shows margin improvements in the water transportation industry lagging behind the stellar 2015 performances seen in the trucking and airline markets. Part of
the reason for this: Fuel costs for barges and ships are
estimated to have declined by only 17.7% last year.
Thats 20 percentage points or so lower than fuel deflation rates seen in truck and air. Once all of the data are
parsed through our economic model, we see the waterborne freight transportations pre-tax gross operating
surplus up just 29 cents per $100 worth of services sold
in 2015. This means that going forward, carriers will be
under more pressure to try pushing higher prices.

RAIL
The rail industry also basked in the glow of large
cuts in their fuel expenditures last year. The industrys
trade association reports that average railroad fuel prices
fell more than 40% on a year-over-year basis. Our cost
model agrees, calculating that fuel costs declined 36.9%
in 2015. However, after adding labor and materials costs
as well as overhead spending, we figure total costs
dropped by only 4.3%. After suffering price cuts over
the past year, buyers of intermodal and carload services
may fear carriers will point to their urgent need to mend
margins with higher prices. Yes, rail prices will rise (up
0.6% this year), but margins averaged $18.79 per $100
of sales last year, so the need is far from urgent.
LOGISTICSMGMT.COM

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