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Dive Brief:
- The latest producer price index data suggested year-over-year improvements for LTL carriers in 2025.
- Preliminary PPI for long-distance LTL freight, not seasonally adjusted, was 435.205 in May, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That’s 5.4% higher than a year ago.
- “LTL pricing discipline appears to be holding,” Jason Miller, interim chair of Michigan State University’s Department of Supply Chain Management, said in regards to rates in a statement to Trucking Dive.
Long-distance LTL producer price index shows gains
PPI values for 2025, compared to the same time a year ago.
Dive Insight:
Freight market challenges have damaged earnings this year, according to several LTL carriers’ Q1 earnings, and depressed rates have caused some shuffling from LTL to TL.
With inflation and U.S. tariff policy contributing friction, a freight recession lingers and still awaits a significant rebound in demand.
“The dry van TL PPI is up ~3% year-over-year, which isn't indicative of a strong shift in market conditions just yet,” Miller also wrote.
For LTL, general rate increases may only land in the 2% to 3% range this year, rather than 4% to 5% as previously forecast, according to an Uber Freight Q2 outlook.
But the PPI gives support that rates have not been as severely constrained, Miller suggested.
