Entering the final quarter of 2023, the freight market has moved into an era of somber recalibration. The optimism that jumped in Q3 is now tempered by more introspection, as signs emerge of a market that will remain subdued for a longer period. This new normal is less about the tumult of the past and more about steady adjustment to prolonged market softness.
The second half of 2023 has so far brought with it several major bankruptcies, leaving in their wake a new awareness among carriers and brokers of how fragile market equilibrium really is. As Q4 unfolds, much of freight’s executive class seems to be adopting a more defensive stance, suggesting collective acceptance of a “lower for longer” market scenario.
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This conservative outlook is evident in the latest Freight Sentiment Indexes. North American supply chains now face the task of navigating a market that continues to downshift and has little hope of changing until Q2 2024 at the earliest.
The Q4 2023 Freight Sentiment Indexes are represented on a scale between negative 100 and positive 100, where higher numbers suggest positive sentiment or growth and lower numbers suggest pessimism or contraction. Shippers, brokers and carriers all answer the same survey questions. The results offer aggregated insights from hundreds of respondents into the industry’s health and expectations for the future.
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