TL dry van capacity shows no signs of fourth quarter tightness    

Morgan Stanley's dry van truckload freight index continues at moderate levels, compared to the tighter capacity environment in Q2 2010. While capacity remains tighter than in 2009, the spread between 2009 and 2010 is narrowing and the current index is below the 1995-2008 average. The index measures incremental demand for dry-van truckload services compared to incremental supply. The higher the index the tighter is capacity relative to demand when compared to a prior period. In Q2 it was starting to look like we may see a repeat of the TL capacity shortages of 2004 and 2005, but at this point the graph is tracking very closely to 2006 and 2008 which were strong through Q2 and then plunged toward the end of the year.

Graph reproduced with permission from Morgan Stanley. For more information contact: Adam Longson at Adam.Longson@morganstanley.com or Bill Green at William.Greene@morganstanley.com