Transport Market Monitor confirms sharp decline in capacity in December

By the end of 2019, the short-term available transport capacity fell by one fifth. The significant decline in capacity caused transport prices to rise by more than eight percent in December compared to the previous month. This is the result of the current evaluations of the Transport Market Monitor (TMM). The online service is provided by Tim Consult based on real transport data from the spot market of the Transporeon platforms. Overview of the relevant developments in December 2019:

• In December the capacity index fell from 128.1 to 102.4 index points (-20 %) compared to the previous month. Nevertheless, the short-term available capacity for road transports was six percent higher than in December 2018.

 

• The transport price index rose to 108.5 index points in December, which corresponds to an increase of 8.4 percent compared to the previous month (index 100.1). However, transport prices were 1.8 percent lower than in December 2018.

 

• The diesel price index increased slightly compared to November (+0.7%).

 

Thus, the monthly development of available transport capacity in 2019 right until the end of the year followed the trend of the previous year and showed a familiar seasonally pattern. Over the year, however, significantly more available capacity was offered than in 2018. “Therefore, the analyses of our Transport Market Monitor were month after month a reliable early indicator of the weak economic development in Europe”, says Oliver Kahrs, Managing Director of Tim Consult, a subsidiary of Transporeon. Compared to other industry indices, the TMM is based on market data of up to 150,000 real spot-market transports, which are handled monthly via Europe’s leading Transporeon platform.

 

However, according to Kahrs the higher capacity utilization in December cannot be taken as an evidence of economic recovery. “But the lower capacities available at short-term across all industries may indicate a slow initial recovery. In December, this trend for the first time noticeably affected key industries”, Kahrs explains. For example, towards the end of the year the available capacity offered on the spot market also declined in the chemical industry (-19.7%), the steel and metal processing industry (-16%) and the automotive sector (-8.4%). In addition, in December transport prices rose in all sectors documented in the TMM. “This could indicate that transport service providers expect the positive order development to continue after the turn of the year”, Kahrs adds.

 

Monthly development of the price and capacity index (January 2018 to December 2019)

 The TMM provides shippers and logistics service providers with market transparency in a unique range and depth and ensures precise and valid insights into developments in the transport market (source: Transporeon / Tim Consult).

 

Webinar on current development of prices and capacities in the transport market

Oliver Kahrs, Managing Director of Tim Consult, provides market participants monthly with detailed information on the current development of transport market prices and capacities in a 15-minute English-language webinar. Interested market participants can register for free to participate. The next webinar will take place on 21 January 2020.

 

Transport Market Monitor (TMM)

Transport Market Monitor is a powerful online service for price and capacity development in the European road freight transport market. Shippers, trading companies, forwarders and transport service providers benefit as subscribers from monthly evaluations, which are displayed online in numerous charts – for individual countries and the whole of Europe, Russia, 80 country-country combinations and more than ten different industries.

The TMM is based on spot market data of the Transporeon platforms with more than 20 billion Euro freight turnover per year. Its analyses are generated from more than 1.8 million freight orders, which are processed annually via Transporeon’s spot market and subsequently analysed by Tim Consult. The Transport Market Monitor provides highly valid, precise and transparent information.

For more information, visit www.transportmarketmonitor.com.