LTL rates are starting to increase   

Stephens Inc. released their 3rd quarter update on publicly traded LTL carriers indicating that in Q3 rates per hundredweight excluding fuel surcharge were up 2.4%% from Q2 of this year. That is the largest sequential increase since 3Q 2004. This is the first sequential increase in the index in the last 7 quarters. LTL rates seem to have bottomed out and are rising again. Some of the capacity issues that may impact the TL segment, like CSA 2010, are not as prevalent in the LTL segment. Stephens is predicting TL rates will increase by 4-5% in 2011.

Graph reproduced with permission from Stephens Inc. For more information contact: Jack Waldo at jwaldo@stephens.com or Justin Long at justin.long@stephens.com