Transportation Insights & Analysis

FTR Engage - Replay - Economic Restart-01

 

August State of Freight TODAY

FTR Engage — The Economic Restart
August brought us the first session of FTR's ongoing virtual speaking series, FTR Engage. The full replay is available now along with an addition Q&A podcast session. This replay provides an economic-focused look at the transportation markets and sets the stage for the additional modal-specific sessions of FTR Engage that follow.
 
Session Details: The U.S. and global economies have experienced unprecedented events in 2020 - the shutdown and restart of economic activity in order to control the spread of a pandemic. As the restart phase continues several questions emerge: Are we in a stable economy? What is our new normal? Will we regain the ground we have lost? Watch this session now for an assessment of our current economic reality.

View the FTR Engage Replay: The Economic Restart

 

July State of Freight TODAY

 

 

July State of Freight TODAY

Oil prices have firmed. But for how long?
Oil prices have recovered in recent weeks despite the slow global economic recovery. This article provides an overview and insights into demand vs sentiment, production cuts, and outlines the long road to normalization.

 

Chemicals Markets Assessment
Chemicals are derived of basic chemicals (organic and inorganic), fertilizers, plastics, coatings, cleaners, and pharmaceuticals. Because of the high degree of internal movements, the analysis of transportation is very complicated.

 

Key Issues in Transportation Q&A
Following our annual Key Issues in Transportation webinar, the FTR Experts took additional time to go through all of the Q&A we received. Read the responses to these questions in this article.

Topics covered in the Q&A include trucking, intermodal, rail, equipment, volumes, utilization, DAPL, Canadian grain movements, demand forecasting methodology, payroll protection program, and much more.

 

View the July State of Freight TODAY

 

 

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June State of Freight TODAY

Canada: The Economy Reopens and a Long Cool Road Back Beckons
The Canadian economy is reopening after suffering a sharp decline because of the COVID-19 virus. Economic damage from the virus was steep. This article provides an overview of the situation and the pathway back to pre-pandemic levels. 

 

Restarting the Economy What are the ‘Known Unknowns’

As the U.S. and global economies start the process of restarting, variables can be identified (are known) but the outcome of the variables are still unknown. This State of Freight Insights report outlines the near and long-term factors that are guiding our research and analysis during the economic restart and recovery.

 

Known Unknowns & Ask the Expert Q&A

There are many risk factors and variables we know will affect the economy, but the impact and magnitude of these are still not known. These ‘known unknowns’ are variables the FTR team is closely monitoring. This Ask the Expert webinar replay addresses the uncertainty that transportation professionals are facing and discusses the various factors involved in restarting the economy. 

 

View the June State of Freight TODAY

 

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May State of Freight TODAY

Coronavirus: A Global Threat and the Response
With so much changing so fast over the past couple of months, it would be easy to get caught up in the hourly minutia and forget the truly extraordinary and unprecedented developments in the U.S. and the world. What follows is a recap of and update on the crisis with a focus on the economic fallout and outlook.
 

Rail Freight Volumes Have Likely Bottomed
Weekly volume data from the Association of American Railroads and analyzed by FTR shows that rail volumes, in the intermodal and carload sectors, are likely near the bottom. This commentary provides insight that accompanies FTR's new COVID-19 Rail Freight Recovery Index, designed to assess freight activity on railroads across several sectors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery from it.

 

Refrigerated Freight Recovering as Total Truck Freight Volumes Bottom
Daily data on the truck spot market indicates that the sharp drop in truck freight since mid-March stabilized in the second week of April and that volumes have remained largely flat for a couple of weeks. This commentary provides insight that accompanies the COVID-19 Truck Freight Recovery Index, a new index jointly produced by Truckstop.com and FTR Transportation Intelligence.

 

View the May State of Freight TODAY