FTR’s June Shippers Conditions Index falls after two historic growth months

The June edition of the Shippers Conditions Index (SCI), from freight transportation consultancy FTR, showed a sharp decline from May, falling for the second consecutive month.

FTR describes the SCI as an indicator that sums up all market influences that affect the transport environment for shippers, with a reading above zero being favorable and a reading below being unfavorable and a “less-than-ideal environment for shippers.”

June’s SCI reading—at 1.03—was down from May’s 24.8, which marks the second highest reading on record, with April’s 41.3 being the highest.

FTR said that on the heels of these two historic months, in April and May, the major difference was in capacity utilization, which it said was a strong positive in May but the only negative factor in June. And it added that rates remained a positive contributor to the June SCI but a much smaller one than in May. The firm said that its current outlook is for stronger conditions with SCI readings in the mid-to-high single digits through the rest of 2020.

“Spot tightness in the trucking market and surging domestic intermodal volumes put downward pressure on the index,” said FTR Vice President of Rail and Intermodal Todd Tranausky in a statement. “Through the balance of the year, uncertainty remains high, but FTR expects a positive environment for shippers through the end of 2020.”