John’s Blog

12-9-09

Dear Friends,

While oil prices continue to fall so does the freight volume. The Department of Transportation released their Freight Transportation Services Index showing a decline of 1.2% in October.

The TSI October 09 reading came it at 94.5% when in October of 2008 the reading was 10.5%. This is the largest year over year drop in 20 years. In 1996 the reading was 88.8, the last time an October reading was this low.

The reading of 94.5% can also be compared against its historic high reading of 112.9 in May 2006. Remember when freight rates were high and we were worried about a truck driver shortage?

YRC continues their fight to swap debt for equity and has extended the deadline once again in their last ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy. They have 72% of their bond holders on board but need more time to make the deal work. An additional week has been added.

At Wagner we are going through our year end slowdown as less activity is handled. I am encouraged by having more deal activity as we receive RFPs and inquiries. Wagner still has capacity in several of our facilities.

We are seeing some of our clients begin to pick up business and their volumes are beginning to increase. I expect 2010 to be a slow recovery year and 2011 to be a blockbuster.

As always, don’t hesitate to let me know if there are any projects we may help you with in distribution center operations, fulfillment, transportation, or contract packaging.

Wagner is blessed with a great professional staff and we are here to serve our clients.

Best regards,

John