Spot Van, Reefer Rates Soften Over Past Week; Flatbeds Continue Inching Up

A 7.7% gain in spot truckload freight volume and a 2.1% dip in capacity were not enough to buoy spot truckload rates during the week ending Feb. 4, according to DAT Solutions and activity from its network of load boards.

While the national average flatbed rate showed a modest gain as van and refrigerated freight rates both fell last week. However, rates for each trailer types remain higher than they were in February 2016 while the average cost of diesel during the period was unchanged from the week before at $2.56 per gallon.

Flatbed load availability jumped 21% while the number of flatbed truck posts was virtually unchanged. That led to a 21% increase in the flatbed load-to-truck ratio to 21.9 loads per truck nationally.

The average flatbed rate edged up 1 cent to $1.92 per mile, the third straight week of penny-a-mile rate increases.

Regionally, spot flatbed rates were mixed as several top-paying lanes experienced a drop-off or modest gains:

The spot market for vans was steady last week as the number of load posts increased less than 1% and truck posts fell 2%. The load-to-truck ratio gained 3% to 2.6 loads per truck and the national average rate slipped 3 cents lower to $1.66 per mile and is down from $1.72 three weeks earlier

Also, outbound rates declined in many major markets:

In the West, Stockton, Seattle, and Denver all slipped 5 cents lower compared to the previous week, and Denver-Chicago dropped below $1 a mile to 97 cents ...Read the rest of this story

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I'm sure a few of you remember the original TV series from the 60s with Don Adams and Barbara Feldon. In 2008 there was a remake movie that did okay at the box office. But, that's not what I am talking about in transportation and trucking. In the late 90s, when Freightliner introduced the SmartShift, I can recall the process of finding a name for the steering column mechanism for shifting an automated mechanical transmission. I was not keen on the often used “smart” being added to anything and everything at the time.

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Graphic: U.S. DOT

The amount of for-hire freight moved across multiple transportation modes increased 1% in December from the month before, the third consecutive monthly gain, according to the Transportation Department.

This latest reading of the Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) also ties the all-time high level hit during July 2016 as December shipments increased 2.9 % from the same time a year ago.

The November index was revised upward to 123.5 from 123.2 in last month's release. Monthly numbers for August through October were also revised up slightly while figures from January through June 2016 were revised down slightly.

The Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in for-hire freight shipments by mode of transportation in tons and ton-miles, which are combined into one index and includes the output from trucking, rail, inland waterways, pipelines and air freight.

The December Freight TSI grew due to increases in trucking, pipeline, rail intermodal, and water, while air freight and rail carloads declined. According to the department, it was driven by economic growth from increased industrial production during month along with gains in employment and personal income.

For the final quarter of 2016, the Freight TSI improved 2.9% from the previous quarter's downturn of 1.1% as growth in the nation's gross domestic product slowed to an annual pace of 1.9% from 3.5% during the third quarter.

The department noted the fourth quarter slowdown in GDP growth was preceded by a third quarter decline in Freight TSI and the rapid GDP growth in the third quarter was preceded by a strong increase in Freight TSI in the second quarter.

The fourth quarter 2016 Freight TSI increase is the largest gain since the fourth quarter of 2011 and is 1.8% above the level at the beginning of 2015. The index remains high compared to earlier years, rising 31.7% since the low of ...Read the rest of this story