Ground transportation rates still dropping: CGFI

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — The cost of ground transportation dropped for the third consecutive month in December.

According to the Canadian General Freight Index (CGFI) the cost of ground transportation dropped by 1.6% in December compared to November, while fuel surcharges assessed by carriers continued to rise.

The base rate index, which excludes the impact of fuel surcharges assessed by carriers, decreased 2.5%. The CGFI is still 2.9% above the April low point and 1.5% above last year’s result for the same period.

A release from the Canadian transportation management firm Nulogx, which collects the data that makes up the CGFI, average fuel surcharges increased substantially for the third consecutive month from their September low of 13.0% to 15.7% in December.

“In December we continued to see the cooling off of the domestic truck load sector,” said Doug Payne, president & COO of Nulogx. “However this was offset somewhat by a sustained increase in fuel surcharges and a surprisingly strong domestic LTL result.”

Alan Saipe, president of Supply Chain Surveys, says he expects carriers will push for rate interests over the next few months.

“While the price increases seen in the domestic truckload sector earlier in the year did not take, we are expecting that carriers will try again for rate increases in early 2011,” he said.