A U.S. Bank index showed a 27% drop in Northeast regional shipments in Q2 YoY, a decline even worse than the 25% drop during Q2 of 2020 during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The historic drop came amid a significant decline in housing starts and decline in household consumption, the bank’s report said. Overcapacity also remained an issue.
The trucking industry downturn involves weaker demand for consumer goods and a slowdown in manufacturing, thereby affecting carrier operations, American Trucking Associations’ Senior VP and Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a news release for the report.
The Northeast’s decline also far outpaced problems in other regions. Compared to a year ago, shipments around the country declined by nearly 16% in the West, 9% in the Midwest, and nearly 13% in the Southeast.
But the Southwest saw an increase of nearly 15% in shipments in Q2 YoY, an improvement that mirrored a Q1 YoY increase of 14%.
The Southwest bucked the downward trend in part due to truck-transported trade with Mexico, the report said.
“Only the Southwest region saw a gain in shipment volumes, and it was significant (14.8%), highlighting continued robust cross-border truck traffic with Mexico,” the report said.
Overall, a national shipments index contracted once again. The YoY decline has happened every quarter starting in Q2 2022 and after.
“Compared with a year earlier, the index was down 9%, which was the largest year over-year contraction since the second quarter of 2020,” the report said.
