Morgan Stanley’s dry van truckload index is starting to rise again   

Morgan Stanley's dry van truckload freight index indicates tighter than normal capacity for this time of year. The Q1 index has now risen slightly above the trucking boom years of 2004 and 2005. The index did not drop at the end of 2010 contrary to most years. Capacity tightness has eased significantly compared to Q2 2010. 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. While capacity is not tight at this time, we do expect capacity to tighten throughout 2011.

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.