Pandemic-era freight prices soften slowly, remain high

Pandemic-era freight prices are slowly softening, but truck and ocean shipping costs had risen so high in past months that they still remain far above their historic norms, according to analysis from Inxeption, a firm that provides a supply chain digital commerce platform.

More specifically, Inxeption has measured a slight drop in truckload rates—a downward progression that is likely to continue—but said that contract pricing for truckload and less than truckload (LTL) rates are still relatively high.

“After being crunched for capacity earlier in the year, both truckload and LTL capacity constraints are loosening,” Roberta Tamburrino, Inxeption’s senior vice president of logistics operations, said in a release. “Truckload rates remain overinflated and higher than they should be, but we’re at the precipice of a rate drop.”

As a solution to that complex trucking marketplace, the Cupertino, California-based software startup recently launched its LaneLock product, calling the technology a digitally-enabled alternative to traditional truckload RFQs. According to Inxeption, that approach gives smaller business the same logistics opportunities as large corporations by supporting an on-demand, cloud-based transportation ecosystem that provides real-time rates for parcel, LTL, full truckload and ocean shipments as well as centralized invoicing and multimodal analytics.

The trend toward slumping truck and ocean cargo rates mirrors similar movements in air freight prices, which have dipped from their historic highs. But at the same time that demand has cooled, some truckers have seen rising costs of doing business, both on the roads and at maritime ports, contributing to keep costs higher than usual for shippers even as the winter holiday peak season looms.