TRUCKING MARKETS * USA - Truckload Rates Seen Rising 5 to 10 Percent

New York,NY,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Feb 16, 2011: -- Motor carriers are keeping capacity tight in bid for price hikes, Longbow says...   Truckload carriers are seeking rate hikes ranging from 5 to 10 percent as annual contracts come up for renewal, Wall Street firm Longbow Research reports...   Carriers have "a high degree of confidence" that they will get those percentage increases, Longbow analyst J. Douglas Woodrich said in a Feb. 16 note to investors...  The investment research firm said tight control over capacity, federal safety regulations and lack of financing for new trucks will keep pressure on rates...  Truckload supply and demand reached "equilibrium" in January, according to Longbow. Demand was up 3.4 percent in the first month of 2011...  That's slow compared with double-digit increases for much of 2010, but an improvement over a 1.6 percent decline a year ago, the research firm said...

* USA - Truck freight volumes holding firm:  Record, a 62% year-over-year increase in TL freight availability

New York,NY,USA -Penton Media/Fleet Owner, by Sean Kilcarr -Feb 17, 2011: -- Near-term metrics indicate that freight volumes remain on the upswing, however the longer-term tonnage picture remains cloudy for trucking. According to TransCore’s North American Freight Index, the January truckload (TL) spot market notched a record amount in this metric’s 30-year history-- recording a 62% year-over-year increase in TL freight availability... Rates increased on the spot market for all truck types in January as well, according to TransCore’s Truckload Rate Index. Compared to January 2010, dry van rates increased by 14%, flatbed rates rose by 11% and refrigerated rates were up by 6%... Still, considering that January is typically a very slow month for truck freight, the numbers are better than average. The Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index (PCI), for example, fell 0.3% in January, giving up some, but retaining much of, December 2010’s 1.8% sequential gain. On a year-over-year basis, the PCI increased 3.4% in January-- making it the fourteenth straight month of year-over-year growth...