Motive Debuts Holiday Outlook Report at MCE
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AUSTIN, Texas — Fleet management technology supplier Motive released its first holiday outlook report examining the state of freight entering the peak season and heading into 2024.
The report, which incorporates aggregated and anonymized insights from Motive’s network, predicts that the reduction in consumer demand and oversupply of truck capacity will continue for the remainder of 2023 and into next year.
“We at Motive don’t anticipate the contraction of the overall trucking market to abate going into the holiday season and early 2024,” the report states. “The capacity glut created in the aftermath of the pandemic’s spending boom is still here, and current economic conditions aren’t showing signs of that changing.”
Motive released the report during American Trucking Associations’ 2023 Management Conference & Exhibition, held Oct. 14-17.
Woodrow
The report, authored by Hamish Woodrow, Motive’s head of strategic analytics, also predicted that retailers will remain cautious, keep their inventory levels low and bring in fewer goods closer to the holiday season.
It also found that climbing diesel prices are placing more financial stress on carriers.
In this environment, it will be especially important for motor carriers to focus on operational efficiency to be as productive and profitable as possible, the report states.
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Driver retention, however, has improved since a year ago. While retention will remain a top issue for fleets in the coming year, the report predicted that drivers may not have as many alternatives in the current economic and industry environment.
The report also warned that crashes and safety violations tend to rise at the end of the year amid the rush and demand of the holiday season and the increase in severe weather. The report cited a 14% increase in critical speeding events during the holidays last year, while hours-of-service violations rose 10% last December.
Motive, formerly known as KeepTruckin, provides fleet management technology, including electronic logging devices, GPS tracking, fleet maintenance software and dashcams that detect distracted and unsafe driving.
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