Logistics & Transportation Industry Predictions for 2021
14 Jan 2021
2020 was a year for the record books in just about every way. What might 2021 have in store for logistics and transportation professionals? Eric Masotti, our VP of Logistics here at Trailer Bridge, shared his predictions for trucking, ocean shipping, gas prices, and more in a recent column for FreightWaves.com.
The second half of 2020 saw record demand for truckload shipping and an increase in semi-truck orders. Will domestic volume and pricing continue to rise this year? If truck pricing levels off, it will affect intermodal, resulting in stabilized demand and reduced prices in that sector.
In ocean transport, the Port of Long Beach performed exceptionally well last year and is poised to break a new record in Q1 2021 by moving over 900,000 twenty-foot equivalent units in a single month. How might volume and pricing be impacted by market and other influences in the year ahead?
Will we see mergers between the #25-100 ranked carriers on the Transport Topics Top 100 For-Hire Carriers to better compete with the top 25? Masotti foresees an influx of private equity and venture capital cash into digital freight brokers, which will keep margins depressed in the brokerage industry until the market determines winners and losers.
Mosatti predicts fuel prices will increase this year and finish 2021 at $2.84 a gallon, but with no wild swings. He also expects we will continue to see increased private equity and venture capital investment in autonomous-driven trucks, which begs the question: when will we see them outside of closed systems? And, should we expect an infrastructure bill for self-driving trucks to pass through Congress this year?
Eric Masotti has much more to say on these topics, with number-specific predictions. Check out his full article and see what you think—is he right on or way off the mark? Read Really bad logistics predictions for 2021 at FreightWaves.com.
