Few in freight appear to have high hopes for profits in the first quarter, but the landscape is at least starting to look a little brighter for carriers, according to the Q1 2023 Freight Sentiment Indexes.
The only category it declined in other than near-term profitability (minus 8.63) was longer-term workforce, which nonetheless held solidly positive at 11.73, down about half a point from 12.28 in Q4 2022.
Truckload spot rates — as measured by the FreightWaves National Truckload Index less fuel (Ticker: NTIL.USA) — hit a low of $1.67 in mid-November.
But that doesn’t discount that when including a long-term perspective, carriers see themselves in a marginally stronger position now than three months ago.
In regard to the business investment subcategory, shippers scored the highest, meaning they’re the most likely to consider now to be a good time to spend money on new technology.