Manufacturing growth helps drive demand for expedited freight services

If the trucking industry provides a good indicator of the pulse of our economy then the manufacturing sector is either the heart or the lungs and according to the Federal Reserve's industrial production report manufacturing production is growing stronger. The report indicated very encouraging growth of 0.9 percent in June, gains that easily recouped some smaller losses earlier in the year.

Projections from the same source indicate that manufacturing growth is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, welcome news for all involved in the trucking sector. Industrial production in the U.S. has been in a steady growth pattern since 2011 and the improvements have been even healthier over the last eighteen months than in the preceding three years as a more solid and consistent base has seen production levels solidify over that period of time.

Meanwhile, consumer spending and consumption in addition to most retail indicators are also showing similar trends which mean that freight, whether urgent expedited freight or product shipments for retailers/inventory continue to see the demand for freight on a steady trajectory. Lower oil prices have also helped the economic platform remain untainted by spiralling costs also and, as a result, most analysts paint a bright short-to-midterm forecast.

To see such growth in American manufacturing over the last five years would have been deemed unlikely if not nearly impossible by many insiders a decade ago, but it's that gradual return of the manufacturing base in conjunction with overall confidence that is helping to propel trucking onward and upward.