U.S. election uncertainty makes weak freight market even worse, TFI boss says

The head of Canada’s biggest trucking firm says the upcoming U.S. election is straining an already weak market for freight.

Uncertainty over the outcome of the political contest this fall means some customers are holding off on shipments until the result becomes clear, Alain Bédard, chairman and CEO of TFI International Inc., said Friday.

On a conference call with analysts, Bédard gave the example of a green energy company spun off from General Electric, claiming GE Vernova’s wind turbine business could suffer depending on who wins on Nov. 5.

“If it’s candidate one, he’s against windmills, so that business is going to fall. If you take the No. 2 guy, well he likes windmills, he’s more green. So that’s why we have these kinds of customers just sitting on the fence not knowing where the ball is going to drop — left or right,” Bédard said.

“We still anticipate this freight recession will not change probably before ’25. We have an election year in the U.S. A lot of our customers are just waiting to see what’s going to happen.”

GE Vernova did not respond to a request for comment.

A tough trucking environment in general has also hurt transport companies, the chief executive said, resulting in a seven per cent year-over-year drop in adjusted earnings per share in TFI’s first quarter, below analysts’ expectations.

“Why is that? Because the truckload in Q1 was just a disaster,” he said. “It’s a very, very difficult market right now.”

Bédard was referring to the “truckload” segment of the business that carries full loads to a client, as opposed to “less-thantruckload” deliveries that make several drops of cargo for different clients on a single run.

Employment in trucking and logistics fell by about 38,000 jobs between 2021 and the end of last year, according to industry nonprofit Trucking HR Canada.