2015 Trends in Freight Shipping and Cargo Transportation
Like most industries, freight shipping and cargo transportation will be experiencing changes in the new year. These changes will affect the both the intermodal industry and the trucking and logistics industry. One of the most important elements of change is reduced energy prices.
The low energy prices have bolstered our economy on the whole. But, it has had especially positive impacts on freight shipping and cargo transportation. With crude oil at $40-$50 per barrel, fuel prices, and thus shipping charges, have dropped dramatically. This can have far reaching positive implications in freight shipping, including growing workforce and increased budget for asset recovery services. Luckily, energy prices are predicted to stay low in 2015 so these positive effects will be long term.
A second predicted change addresses the U.S.-Canada relationship. It is predicted that Canadian-U.S. exports will increase and American industry will move into Canada. The Canadian economy seems to be taking a hit, with the Canadian dollar valued under .85 cents. It is projected to continue to decrease throughout 2015. This, in combination with lower fuel prices, will drive Canadian manufacturing prices down. Accordingly, the U.S. will do more manufacturing business across the Canadian border. Also, many American trucking companies could be buying into Canadian market share.
Finally, Less than Truckload (LTL) shipping standards are expected to change. Based on old and increasingly irrelevant standards, LTL shipping will be catching up with the times in 2015. The standards it currently follows were set when cargo and freight loads were generally bulkier than they are today. Standards will be revised based on allocated cube space. Dimensionalizing machines, which can calculate the exact space a shipment will take up, will play a large role in this process of increasing LTL efficiency.
Overall, these changes will likely lead to more streamlined and economical freight shipping operations. Learn about Skybitz’s trailer tracking solutions for freight shipping and cargo transportation.
