November freight shipments and expenditures are mixed, states Cass Freight Index Report

November freight shipment and expenditure readings were mixed, according to the new edition of the Cass Freight Index, which was recently issued by Cass Information Systems. 

Many freight transportation and logistics executives and analysts consider the Cass Freight Index to be the most accurate barometer of freight volumes and market conditions, with many analysts noting that the Cass Freight Index sometimes leads the American Trucking Associations (ATA) tonnage index at turning points, which lends to the value of the Cass Freight Index.

What’s more, the Cass Transportation Index accurately measure changes in North American freight activity and costs based on $44 billion in paid freight expenses for the Cass customer base of hundreds of large shippers. 

The November shipments reading, at 1.086, fell 0.7% annually, following a 2.4% annual decline in October, and a 5.2% annual decline in September, which was preceded by a 1.9% annual decline in August (which was its smallest decline in 18 months through August). Sequentially, shipments eked out a 0.5% increase, snapping an eight-month stretch of declines, and were up 2.8% sequentially on a Seasonally-Adjusted (SA) basis. On a two-year stacked change basis, shipments were down 9.6%. 

“Ongoing economic growth and slowing private fleet capacity additions are helping to narrow the y/y declines, but the normal seasonal pattern would have the index down about 3% y/y in December,” wrote Tim Denoyer, the report’s author and ACT Research vice president and senior analyst, in the report. “After rising 13% in 2021 and 0.6% in 2022, the index declined 5.5% in 2023 and is on track for a 4% decline in 2024.” 

November freight expenditures, at 3.203, fell 3.8% annually, following a 5.9% annual decline in October. And expenditures were off 28.4% on a two-year stacked change basis and up 0.9% sequentially.

“The expenditures component of the Cass Freight Index, which measures the total amount spent on freight, rose 0.9% m/m in November,” wrote Denoyer. “The y/y decline moderated to 3.8% from 5.9% in October. With shipments up 0.5% m/m, we infer the 0.9% increase in expenditures included rates up 0.4% m/m in November in the third straight price increase.”