TD Cowen

Q3 Freight Index: Carriers Fight Margin Pressure as Industry Faces Longest Downcycle in Years AFS and TD Cowen highlight freight market complexity, with historical models and economic shifts shaping short-term forecasts.

The 36th Annual State of Logistics Report highlights the challenges facing the truckload sector, the largest segment of the $387 billion trucking market. With tariffs on foreign goods affecting freight volumes, major carriers like J.B. Hunt, Knight-Swift, and Werner Enterprises are experiencing declines, particularly in intermodal and TL pricing.

The second quarter edition of the TD Cowen/AFS Freight Index, which was recently released by New York-based investment firm TD Cowen Inc. and Shreveport, La.-based 3PL and freight audit and payment company AFS Logistics LLC, highlighted how various freight transportation modes are dealing with various issues, including tariff-related actions and an anticipated downward shift in consumer confidence, which could potentially impact prospects for a freight market recovery.

The first quarter edition of the TD Cowen/AFS Freight Index, which was recently released by New York-based investment firm TD Cowen Inc. and Shreveport, La.-based 3PL and freight audit and payment company AFS Logistics LLC, highlighted how various freight transportation modes are handling various factors, including low demand, overcapacity, and pricing.

The new edition of the TD Cowen/AFS Freight Index, which was recently released by New York-based investment firm TD Cowen Inc. and Shreveport, La.-based 3PL and freight audit and payment company AFS Logistics LLC, was somewhat mixed, with what it called unprecedented parcel pricing, as well as more established trends for truckload and less-than-truckload (LTL) rates.

The new edition of the TD Cowen/AFS Freight Index, which was recently released by New York-based investment firm TD Cowen Inc. and Shreveport, La.-based 3PL and freight audit and payment company AFS Logistics LLC, pointed to what continues to be a shippers’ market, with truckload rates remaining low, parcel rates seeing discounting in express and ground parcel, and still-elevated less-than-truckload (LTL) rates.

The new edition of the TD Cowen/AFS Freight Index, which was recently released by New York-based investment firm TD Cowen Inc. and Shreveport, La.-based 3PL and freight audit and payment company AFS Logistics LLC, was somewhat mixed, with less-than-truckload (LTL) and truckload rates steady, and parcel rates being impacted by fuel surcharge increases and various accessorial charges amid lower demand.

The new edition of the TD Cowen/AFS Freight Index, which was recently released by New York-based investment firm Cowen Inc. and Shreveport, La.-based 3PL and freight audit and payment company AFS Logistics LLC, highlighted mixed readings, as well as expectations, for truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), and parcel activity, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter.

Truck capacity across all modes is slowing because of slackening demand in both industry and retail freight, leading to murky forecasts for the rest of the year by leading freight analysts. Top freight officials throughout the trucking industry are bracing for a slowdown the second half of the year. Truck demand, buoyed last year by the recovery following the COVID shutdown, returns to a more normal level, they predict.