Offering an industry outlook “is much easier this year than last,” said Paul Will, vice chairman & CFO of the Celadon Group. Opening the annual ALK Transportation Technology Summit, Will told the assembled fleet of IT professionals that a general recovery is clearly under way with manufacturing output growing again, housing starts beginning to trend upwards, and personal consumption of both durable and nondurable goods recovering from the lows of 2009.
Slowing that recovery is persistent high unemployment, Will explained, and it could take up to 48 months for employment to return to pre-recession levels.
In early 2009, the dry van sector had excess capacity in the range of 10 to 15%, and today that number is 1 to 2%, Will said.
