I saw something Saturday that I haven't seen for over a year. When rail freight is heavy, trains set for hours at times here in Wheatley. I saw two separate trains sit for a couple of hours Saturday.

I also noticed the Truck freight market demand index went over 7 last week, the first time it's been over 7 since July, 2008.

An excerpt:

NEW PLYMOUTH, ID – March 1, 2010. Internet Truckstop®, North America’s largest online freight matching service, announced that their real-time Market Demand Index (MDI) exceeded 7 last week. This is the first time since July of 2008 that the MDI rose above 7. The MDI measures relative truck demand, which means it gauges how much demand there is for the available trucks that are in the market.  When the MDI is below 7, pricing leverage typically resides with the shipper or freight broker. When the index exceeds 7, pricing leverage typically shifts in favor of the motor carrier.

“Since August 2008, the long haul trucking industry has clearly been in a broker/shipper market from a rate negotiation standpoint, but that is quickly changing,” indicated Joel McGinley, an executive consultant for Internet Truckstop®.  “Load availability and truck demand are going to continue to increase and I would not be surprised to see the MDI reach double digits by the summer,” McGinley added.

“The freight market in the truckload sector is realizing greater demand for two reasons, freight tonnage is increasing and there are fewer trucks in the market. Truck capacity began to decline in August of 2007 and has continued since then,” said McGinley. “This strengthening of demand should help to stop the overall loss of capacity and should help to improve the overall freight rates.”

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