The cost of ground transportation for Canadian shippers increased slightly during the first 6 months of 2010, according to the Canadian General Freight Index, sponsored by transportation management solutions provider Nulogx.

Overall freight costs increased by 1.8 percent from December 2009 to June 2010. Base rates, which exclude the impact of fuel surcharges assessed by carriers, also increased by 2.2 percent. Average fuel surcharges decreased marginally from 14.7 percent of base rates to 13.4 percent which buffered the effect of the increasing base rates.

In addition, overall freight costs for June trended upward, increasing 1.9 percent when compared to May and 3.2 percent compared to April.

"Most of the increases are in the domestic truckload sector," said Doug Payne, president of Nulogx, "If fleet operators have eliminated their excess capacity, they may now be looking to secure price increases in this more volatile market segment."

Source: Nulogx