WARNING: Don’t Expect This Freight Cycle to End Soon

FreightWaves expert breaks down 20 years of freight market cycles, from the muted early 2000s to the current volatile environment. Discover how economic variables and policy changes have shaped boom and bust periods, leading to today’s complex supply chain challenges. Learn why assuming a quick end to the current cycle could be a critical mistake for industry pros.

The current freight cycle is nowhere near its conclusion, and anyone positioning for a quick market reversal is making a serious miscalculation. That is the central warning from Zach Strickland in a recent SONAR update, where he walked through more than two decades of freight data to argue that most cycles run far longer than market participants expect — and that this one is only in its early stages.

Strickland anchored his analysis to the Cass Freight Shipments Index, a measure of freight shipment volumes, paired with the Cass Truckload Linehaul Index, which tracks base truckload costs excluding fuel. Charting the data from 2000 onward, he identified at least six distinct disruptions since 2016 alone, calling the current stretch “one of the weirdest and most prolonged weirdest sections of the freight history that we’ve ever had.”

This story was originally published by FreightWaves. Read the full story at FreightWaves →