Spot Truckload Freight Market Sees Weekly, Monthly Gains
Unseasonably high freight volumes combined with higher fuel prices and rough winter weather pushed spot truckload rates upward to start 2017, according to DAT Solutions and its network of load boards, while a separate measure showed the market improved for the sixth straight month in December.
The total number of posted loads increased 17% while available capacity was up 9.5% during the week ending Jan. 7 compared to the previous week. National average rates for reefers increased 5 cents to an unseasonably high $2.03 per mile while van added 4 cents for $1.77 per mile. In contrast, the average flatbed rate fell 3 cents to $1.92 per mile.
All rates include fuel surcharges and this most recent activity happed as national average price of on-highway diesel gained a penny to $2.60 per gallon.
This tighter capacity pushed van and flatbed load-to-truck ratios higher, while refrigerated freight dipped. The van load-to-truck ratio increased 10% to 4.9 loads per truck while flatbeds jumped 7% to 28.6 loads per truck. Reefers fell 4% to 10.7 loads per truck.
Van activity picked up gradually in the week following the holidays. Van load posts were up 20% compared to the previous week and truck posts increased 9%. But rates fell sharply in many key markets over the past week especially in the Midwest and West including:
Los Angeles, $2.08 per mile, down 8 centsChicago, $2.12 per mile, down 11 centsHouston, $1.57 per mile, down 2 centsAtlanta, $1.96 per mile, down 3 centsPhiladelphia, $1.75 mile, down 3 cents
Demand for reefer trucks slipped compared to the boom week between Christmas and New Year’s but the load-to-truck ratio remained unseasonably high. Spot market load posts increased 3% but truck posts rose 7%. According to DAT, freight volume kept climbing in Nogales, Arizona with Mexican produce crossing the border, and load counts also started …Read the rest of this story
