Negotiations on the collective agreements of the Finnish Transport Workers Union AKT continue today, February 13, 2023. Wage negotiations are also going on for truck drivers and terminal workers. If agreements cannot be reached, the entire Finnish transport industry is threatened with a large-scale strike, which, if implemented, will significantly affect the flow of freight traffic. Due to ongoing overtime ban at the Finnish ports, one ferry service between Germany and Finland has been cancelled today. Your road transport contact persons will provide more information about possible delays to shipments.

Today, the American Trucking Associations released its latest ATA Freight Transportation Forecast: 2020 to 2031, which is conducted annually by IHS Markit, showing that despite contraction in 2020, the long-term trend for both trucking and overall freight shipments is still positive. Among the findings in this year’s Forecast: *Total freight volumes in 2020 are likely to collapse by 10.6% to 14.6 billion tons, although truck freight volumes falls a smaller 8.8%. *Trucking volumes are expected to rebound in 2021, rising 4.9% next year and then growing 3.2% per year on average through 2026. *Overall freight revenues in 2020 will total $879 billion, rising to $1.435 trillion in 2031.

Oil prices edged lower Friday, giving up some of the ground made in a recent rally spurred by supply concerns in Venezuela and Iran. The economic crisis in Venezuela is curtailing the country’s oil production, while the planned reinstatement of U.S. sanctions against Iran is expected to hit production from the third-largest member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Click Read More below for additional information.