Our customers and shippers are trying to renegotiate contracts after the spike in costs due to high demand during Covid. Now that demand is settling to pre-Covid rates for shipping needs, shippers want to get back the pricing that was before. I question whether demands are truly decreasing, or if a new equilibrium of demand is being set. Either way, rates increase due to a rapid increase in demand, with limited supply (of not only drivers, and trucks but also fuel shortages, etc.).
I would suspect that if supply challenges have begun to resolve themselves (or demand has decreased) then, obviously the prices should begin to come back down. But if demand remains high and supply challenges are still an issue, it’s unlikely we will see much of a drop in cost. This is where we need to make those relationships with our carriers and customers to provide them with our best cost and service.
– Tammy Murphy, Senior Carrier Sales Representative
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