John’s Blog 12-1-08

Dear Friends,

I hope that you had a good Thanksgiving and some quality time with your family.

The positive news is that retail sales were 3% higher than year over year than 2007 although it is believed that consumers were sitting on their check books waiting for bargains.  Discounters like Wal-Mart and the Dollar stores were the winners.

The most popular items were necessities with luxury merchandise taking a back seat. It appears that shoppers are planning to buy fewer presents for fewer people this year meaning that sales could fall after the “Black Friday” shopping weekend.

The news in transportation and logistics continues to be bleak with little product shipping.  If the sales don’t come then replenishment orders will be down translating to lower freight volumes.

From a carrier point of view they continue to be helped by falling diesel prices. 

At Wagner we are working with several companies who are evaluating their freight spend as well as their inventory stocking locations to find a way to reduce their costs in 2009.  Please let me know if may work with you in improving your supply chain.

Have a great week,

John

Transportation Logistics News 11-24-08

John’s Blog

11-24-08

Dear Friends,

The news this week reflects a continued slow down with plant closings and downtime occurring across the country.  This is reflected in dropping transportation volumes which have fallen steadily for four years.

Class 1 rail volumes have declined 4.5% year over year in carloads and 4.0% in intermodal.

The ATA seasonally adjusted September Truck Tonnage Index showed a continued contraction in the freight market with 0.4% year over year growth.  One item of particular note last week is that YRC Worldwide has had to utilize their assets to secure continued financing.

In short, the US Economy is sliding into the worst recession since 1982 and the transportation players who can lay off capacity will be best positioned to survive. The recession will hit the LTL sector particularly hard in 2009.

Despite all of this poor economic news let us pause this week and give thanks for what we do have, good associates to work with, friends, family and our health.

May God bless you and yours during this Thanksgiving Season.

Sincerely,

John E Wagner Jr.