A carrier capacity imbalance continues but is improving each quarter, according to C.H. Robinson Worldwide.
Trucking firms have seen capacity tighten as operating authorities cease, benefiting remaining players, according to federal data.
But there’s still a “drawn-out stage of capacity oversupply,” C.H. Robinson North American Surface Transportation President Michael Castagnetto said on a Jan. 29 earnings call. Demand also has yet to meaningful materialize, he suggested.
Nevertheless, tightening is creating more desirable conditions for trucking firms.
Compared to influxes during the pandemic, new carrier additions have significantly moderated, along with revoked authorities, FTR VP of Trucking Avery Vise said on a Feb. 3 podcast. Collectively, that meant attrition continued in January 2025, Vise noted.
In recent years, trucking executives said an oversupply in the market has complicated the cycle recovery. Revenues were mixed across firms in Q4, but many carriers have expressed optimism for a turnaround.
For C.H. Robinson, the business is leaning into its automation strategies that leverage its workforce expertise, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Arun Rajan said on the call.
“With continued innovation in our digital brokerage and dynamic pricing and costing, we're responding surgically and faster than ever to dynamic market conditions by performing more frequent price discovery and enhancing the quality of the pricing that we deliver,” he said.
