11 Graphs for the Week of August 12, 2022

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A strong peak season? 📈

Container volumes from all ports leaving China are declining, reflecting the US consumer spending slowdown. The decline appears to be a trend – not necessarily a result of China’s intermittent Covid lockdowns or delays. The data is therefore worth watching. A strong peak season may be in doubt – compare July-August 2021 to July-August 2022. 

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EV charging infrastructure 🔋

Looking for a place to fast-charge your new EV? Move to California or Florida, or perhaps New York.  However, do not invest in an EV if you live in the Mountain West or South. Check out the newly released map that illustrates states that possess the most EV charging ports per square mile. 

China appears to be the best country to own an EV. It leads the world by ‘miles’ in EV charging infrastructure.

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Running out of room! 📦

Southern California’s Warehouse market is running out of room!  Since 2021, vacancy rates have dropped below 2% and now stand at 0.6%. This fact has set off a nationwide scramble for storage space.  

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Transportation employment continues to rise 🚛

Widespread worries about an imminent freight recession have not come to pass. Indeed, so far, payrolls at trucking companies continue to expand this summer. 

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Rising capacity drawing down transportation prices 💸

However, worries persist in the transportation sector. The LMI’s Transportation Prices Index (orange line) dropped to alarming levels for the first time in two years (49.5 reading), fueled by significant growth in transportation capacity (blue line). A capacity surge like this has not been witnessed since April 2019, when the freight sector experienced a recession.   

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Smartphones sales drop 📲

The 287 million smartphone units sold in Q2 2022 represent the lowest figure since Q2 2020 – when the pandemic began. The biggest concern for manufacturers is oversupply.

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It’s the economy 💸

Heading into the fall midterm elections, voters appear sharply focused on the economy.  This does not bode well for the majority party in the House and Senate. 

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More women in transportation 👩‍🔧

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of women in transportation and warehousing jobs has increased every month this year – and is up more than 12% from last July. The trend line is clearly favorable. And since the pandemic contraction, that trend has climbed sharply as more women enter transportation. 

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Air freight rates decline ✈️

As freight demand drops (9% volume decline in July), so too will air cargo rates. The decline is especially evident when comparing 2022 to the past 3 years. 

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More truck models 🚛

While various statistics are mixed about the health of the trucking sector, demand for heavy trucks has been extraordinary. And that trend will continue. Truck manufacturers are building more models, giving fleets a wider selection to choose from. Notice the number of EV models increased from 1 in 2021 to 10 in 2023. However, the average MSRP of an electric heavy-duty truck is $335,480 – nearly twice that of a traditional truck. 

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