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N American freight market is still picking up with 4pc growth in April

SHIPMENT volumes in the North American freight market rose for the fourth straight month in April, after registering a year-on-year increase of 4 per cent.

Expenditures increased by 6 per cent in April, also signalling a trend towards positive growth. According to Cass, freight payment growth turned positive for the first time in 22 months in January, reported American Shipper.

The Cass Truckload Linehaul Index, which measures linehaul rates but does not include fuel costs, rose 1.3 per cent year on year in April, and marked the first increase since February 2016. In April, the Cass Intermodal Price Index, which does include fuel, rose by 2.7 per cent.

According to the Broughton Capital index, air freight also experienced strong year-on-year growth, with volumes on the Asia Pacific trade lane surging 10.7 per cent in April, while Europe Atlantic trade volumes rose by 3.7 per cent.

Rail, however, has been the weakest mode in terms of freight flows over the last two years, noted Broughton. In recent weeks, however, even rail volumes turned positive.

Data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR) showed that carload volumes originated by US Class 1 railroads were up 7.9 per cent in the past four weeks, while intermodal units are up 1.6 per cent.

However, trucking volumes in February and March were down 2.73 per cent and 0.07 per cent, respectively, pushing the three-month moving average growth rate down to just 0.35 per cent.