TimoCom’s Transport Barometer shows that freight rates continued to exceed the available capacity in the third quarter. Thus, the average freight – vehicle ratio was 71:29. The freight level has risen during the summer months of July, August and September.
After the second quarter ended with a high freight surplus, this trend continued with a freight high in the third quarter of 2017 for TimoCom, the provider of Europe’s largest transport platform. According to the German Office of Statistics, Germany exported 8 percent more in July, compared to the same period of the previous year.
Both indicators thus signal a strong growth in the economy, also benefiting the transport industry. As a consequence, there is a growing demand of loading capacity which becomes scarce. Just as in May, September saw a new freight all-time high of 78 percent, which was the go-ahead for a golden autumn. As a result, the freight share was significantly higher than in previous years (2015: 52% and 2016: 61%).
“The economic figures in many places in Europe make optimistic. It was vacation time, the people have much traveled and consumed more. This has aroused the transport industry, but at the same time stressed the lack of drivers,” explains Gunnar Gburek, TimoCom Company Spokesman.
Gunnar Gburek has a positive outlook to the final quarter of this year, but also recognises a development on the transport market, which is to be taken seriously: “The the high freight volume means an advantage to transport service providers, giving them a bigger margin to achieve reasonable prices. One the one hand the conditions are perfect for economic growth, but on the other hand, the volume of work has to be done or otherwise the tempo is slowed down.”
