Domestic truckload leads truck rate hike: CGFI

TORONTO – Ground transportation rates for Canadian shippers increased slightly during the first six months of 2010.

According to theCanadian General Freight Index (CGFI), overall freight costs increased by 1.8 percent from December 2009 to June 2010.

Base rates, which exclude the impact of fuel surcharges assessed by carriers, also increased by 2.2 percent.

Average fuel surcharges decreased marginally from 14.7 percent of base rates to 13.4 percent which buffered the effect of the increasing base rates.

In addition, overall freight costs for June trended upward, increasing 1.9 percent when compared to May and 3.2 percent compared to April.

Two successive months of increases are an encouraging sign for the trucking industry, says Dr. Alan Saipe, president of Supply Chain Surveys Inc., and one of the developers of the index. "(It) may indicate that we reached bottom in April although it is still too early to know for sure."

Doug Payne, president of Nulogx, says most of the increases are in the domestic truckload sector.

"If fleet operators have eliminated their excess capacity, they may now be looking to secure price increases in this more volatile market segment."