Ken Hoexter, senior airfreight & surface transportation analyst for Merrill Lynch expressed cautious optimism for the near-term future

in a recent address to heads of major LTL companies at a user conference sponsored by Carrier Logistics Inc. Tarrytown, N.Y., provider of software solutions to the LTL industry.
Hoexter said he expected "general volume growth and good pricing in the truckload sector," but questions remained as to impact of oil prices and union negotiations. "More trucks are being ordered, but major fleets are not expanding," Hoexter said.
"A big problem is drivers, they are hard to find," Hoexter said. "CEOs say they have never seen the driver market as tight. While driver pay has increased 6-8 percent, carriers who have raised rates about the same amount are losing some of their increase."
Hoexter told the LTL executives that they should expect to enjoy "the benefits of the improving economy. Manufacturing volume is increasing, but the LTL industry is being affected by the new hours of service rules on the truckload side. Capacity in the LTL sector is running about 90 percent and the Master Freight Agreement has removed major overhanging issues from negotiations," he said.
The Carrier Logistics conference brought together executives from North America and Britain including Landtran Systems, Edmonton, Alberta, Custom Companies, Northlake, Ill., Billings Transportation, Lexington, N.C., Land Air Express, Burlington, Vt., Bilkays Express Co., Livingston, N.J., and ANC Group, a UK express delivery service.
Other conference speakers included consultant and author Jack Shaw, Dr. Alain Kornhauser, professor, operations research & financial engineering, Princeton University and founder of ALK Technologies and Brian Bowman, product manager for Progress Software.
For more information, visit www.carrierlogistics.com.