Supply and demand seem to remain relatively balanced. While truck tonnage was up year over year each quarter of 2012, it "grew at a slower rate in each quarter," according to analyst Donald Broughton. He added that "although tonnage has rebounded modestly to start 2013, we believe the effects of contractionary fiscal policy are likely to weigh on demand" for at least the first half of 2013.

The truckload linehaul index isolates the linehaul component of full truckload costs from other components, such as fuel and accessorials. Data within this index is derived from actual freight invoices paid on behalf of Cass's clients, which totaled over $22bn in 2012. The index uses January 2005 as its base month.

In other developments, base intermodal rates (not including fuel surcharge) rose 1.4 percent from February (versus an average of +0.1 percent) and 9.3 percent year over year.

The higher costs can be attributed to continued increases in intermodal volumes. In the first quarter of this year, intermodal volumes were 5.3 percent higher than the same period in 2012, while fourth quarter 2012 volumes were 1.5  percent higher than the last quarter of 2011.

The index isolates the linehaul component of intermodal costs from fuel and accessorials). It is based on pricing as of January 2005 and uses a base value of 100. Data within this index also is derived from actual freight invoices paid on behalf of Cass's clients, which totaled over $22bn in 2012.

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