Freight brokers are hopeful that demand could pick up in the latter half of the year, as a survey shows that 49% project a volume increase in the next 3 to 6 months, 31% expect flat loads, and 20% anticipate a decline, Bloomberg and Truckstop say.
“Though freight brokers continued to face challenging demand and rates in the first half of the year, there are some signs that the worst may be over,” Lee Klaskow, senior freight transportation and logistics analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said in a release. “We believe a return to seasonal demand, higher import levels, and inventory restocking will help drive a recovery later this year.”
Freight rates could also be ready to rise, as an increasing number of brokers believe that spot rates have now hit bottom, with 76% of respondents projecting rates to stay flat or increase over the next 3 to 6 months, three percentage points higher than the second half of 2023.
The numbers come from the Bloomberg | Truckstop first half 2024 Broker survey, which quizzed a sample size of 113 respondents, consisting of freight forwarders, third-party logistics providers, and broker agents, as well as asset and non-asset-based brokers.
But a full recovery could take more time, researchers warned. “Despite the improved outlook over the past six months, brokers remain skeptical about their ability to increase gross margins,” said Kendra Tucker, chief executive officer, Truckstop.
The survey showed that 44% of respondents noted lower gross margins in the first half of 2024 compared to that same time frame in 2023. This is 13 percentage points worse than what brokers indicated in the 2H 2023 survey. And brokers are not optimistic about margins for the rest of the year as 30% expect margins to deteriorate over the next six months, seven percentage points more than in 2H 2023.
