2022 has been anything but normal. Record high inflation and soaring fuel costs have all impacted the ‘normal’ business cycles. As a result, logistics companies are seeing less of a seasonal peak and remaining busy year-round. While there are still seasonal changes, there isn’t as extreme of a seasonal peak as we experienced last year.

Carriers are only rejecting 4.3% of loads compared to a year ago when they were rejecting 20% of loads under contract according to the Outbound Tender Reject Index. We could still end the year on a high note. Holiday sales forecast numbers are encouraging and next year could hold some economic relief.

Chart: (SONAR: OTRI.USA)

What Does 2023 Hold?

While we still are going to have some struggles in 2023, the expectation is that inflation won’t be quite as bad as the previous years. We may see a return to more normal ‘seasons’ in freight demand in 2023. Economists predict that consumer activity will continue to grow despite a difficult year of high inflation. And the Federal Reserve continues to hike interest rates in an attempt to tame inflation. Hopefully, we will see inflation rates come down in 2023.

In addition, fuel costs have been declining for a few weeks. While diesel is still $1.421 more than it was this time of year in 2021, dropped 9.2 cents to $5.141 a gallon, according to Energy Information Administration. The national average price for a gallon of gasoline tumbled 11.4 cents a gallon, down to $3.534. 1

Whatever the future holds, we have navigated tough times before.

Hawkeye is the qualified logistics provider you have been looking for to trust your freight to. CONTACT US today to see for yourself why people are choosing us as their provider.

Source: 1. https://www.ttnews.com/articles/diesel-down-92c-5141-gallon