Contract load accepted volumes made a bit of a comeback in the latter half of October, Increasing 4% over a 2.5 week period. Still down about 5% from 2020 and 11.5% from 2021. Overall accepted volumes remain above pre-pandemic levels, however are not expected to rise significantly as they typically would during November’s peak season push.
As accepted tenders have risen van rejection rates or a carriers’ willingness to accept the loads that are tendered to them by shippers under contractual terms has continued to fall. Outside of the pandemic era, overall rejections fell below 5% in October for the first time since April of 2019.
Flatbed and reefer rejections did receive a slight boost in the latter half of the month but not enough to offset the continued deterioration on the van side. This time last year, rejection rates were hovering around 20%, 2020 almost 25%, and 2019 5.35% which is almost an entire point above where we sit currently.
GDP results for Q3 were released last week increasing at an annual rate of 2.6 percent. The main contributor to growth was net exports of goods and services, up 14.4%. 17.2% on the goods side and 8.3% on the services front. Personal consumption expenditures or consumer spending saw a 1.4% bump (down 0.6% from Q2) with services pulling up the overall number as both durable and nondurable goods together saw a 1.2% decline.
Business investment saw advancements in equipment and intellectual property or intangible assets and a 15.3% decrease in structures. Federal as well as state and local consumption expenditures and investments saw growth of 3.7% and 1.7% respectfully.
Housing investment quarter after quarter has been deteriorating since Q2 of 2021 and this QTR was no different coming in at -26.4%. The housing or residential investment aspect of the most recent release of the GDP report represented the most significant swing in either direction by 9.2 points.
This has been your Bridge Logistics Market Update for the week of Oct 31st, 2022.