intermodal
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October Freight Outlook: Truck Volumes Soften, Air Cargo Tightens—and Cheap Capacity Is No Safe Assumption
Softer truck tonnage is no guarantee of cheaper freight. FIR’s October outlook separates fuel, linehaul, rail growth and tightening air capacity—and sets out mode-specific buying decisions.
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Diesel Jumped 36.8 Cents in One Week as Truck Freight Prices Rose 2.0%—What Shippers Should Audit Before Q4 Bids
Weekly pump prices and monthly freight-price data now point in the same direction—but they measure different costs. Shippers should separate fuel, linehaul and accessorials before paying twice for the same…
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September 2026 Freight Outlook: A Cost Shock Without a Volume Boom
September’s freight market pairs expanding goods demand with elevated fuel and transportation costs. Explore verified truck, ocean, rail and air indicators, FIR scenarios, and practical procurement actions.
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Truck Freight Costs Are Up 10.9%—Rail’s Intermodal Conversion Window Is Widening
Truck freight prices remain 10.9% above last year while rail is up only 1.3%. Here is how shippers should test the widening intermodal conversion window lane by lane.
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Rail’s $85 Billion Mega-Merger Review Restarts—Shippers Now Have 86 Days to Protect Their Leverage
The STB restarted its review of the $85 billion Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger and ordered unfiltered workpapers. Shippers now have a narrow window to protect facility-level competition, service baselines and…
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The Next Freight Squeeze May Be Inland: Intermodal Demand Is Testing Rail Capacity
Stronger ocean volumes are feeding into a less flexible inland network. Union Pacific’s capacity actions suggest some shippers could encounter tighter allocations and higher costs before a nationwide rail bottleneck…
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Record Containers, Softer Imports: Freight’s Peak Season Is Splitting in Two
July’s frontloaded port surge could fade as U.S. factory demand strengthens. Here are the lane, capacity and inventory decisions shippers should make now.
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Freight Intel Outlook · Freight Markets · Shipper Strategy · Technology & Operations · Trucking & OTRAugust Freight Outlook: The Recovery Isn’t Demand-Led—and That Changes Every Shipper Decision
Freight volumes weakened while costs, imports and intermodal activity rose. The August 2026 Freight Intel Outlook explains what shippers, carriers and brokers should do next.