The new edition of the Shippers Conditions Index, which was recently issued by freight transportation consultancy FTR, remained on an uneven path and close to what the firm called neutral territory.
FTR describes the SCI as an indicator that sums up all market influences that affect the transport environment for shippers, with a reading above zero being favorable and a reading below being unfavorable and a “less-than-ideal environment for shippers.”
For April, the most recent month for which data is available, the SCI came in at -0.6, below March’s 0.1 reading, which FTR said was, “basically neutral territory.” That was preceded by -0.3 February reading. The January SCI was 0.6 and was preceded by October’s 1.3 reading, that fell from September’s 4.6 reading. The August SCI was 2.9, with July at 0.5; June at 0.3; May at 4.5, and June at 3.0—which was preceded by several months of declines.
FTR explained that weaker freight volumes in April “were a plus for shippers,” whereas all other underlying SCI factors were less favorable sequentially, adding that the SCI has been close to neutral in 2025, while index components have shifted notably.
“With the tariff-avoidance phase now over and geopolitical developments taking a higher profile, we expect more variability in freight market conditions for shippers than we have seen for 2025 so far,” said Avery Vise, FTR’s vice president of trucking. “Certainly, fuel costs have been highly volatile recently, but freight dynamics also seem less predictable. Tariff policies are still up in the air, and the stimulative effects of the presumed enactment of a tax bill are unclear. Also, an apparent sharp rise in truckers’ insurance premiums could begin to affect capacity in addition to the newly heightened scrutiny over drivers’ English language skills that we have noted previously.”
