By Elizabeth Baatz, Thinking Cap Solutions

TRUCK
The U.S. trucking industry pushed through an average 0.7% price hike from March to April. That increase was possible thanks in large part to a 2.2% jump in prices charged by LTL general freight carriers. Truckload operators, in contrast, managed to push up prices just 0.6% over the same one-month period. Looking at tags in April 2006 compared to the same month a year earlier, prices are up 8% and 2.9% for LTL and TL, respectively. After 15 consecutive quarters of price hikes, the trucking industry cut tags by 0.4% in the first quarter of 2006. That’s likely a minor and temporary step back. The forecast now calls for average industry prices to grow 4.4% in 2006 followed by a 3% gain in 2007. Higher interest rates ahead should forestall more inflation surges.