Spot Truckload Rates Fairly Stable Despite Lower Freight Volume
Spot truckload freight volume continued a seasonal decline, falling 12% for the week ending Jan. 28 compared to the previous week, but overall rates moved little, according to DAT Solutions and its network of load boards.
Unlike this time last year, spot freight activity did not drop off sharply toward the end of January as truck capacity increased 4.8%.
Van load posts were 9% lower last week as truck posts increased 4%, which sent the load-to-truck ratio down 13% to 2.5 loads per truck. The national average van rate edged down 1 cent to $1.69 per mile and is down 8 cents from the week of Jan. 7 while slipping again in key markets:
Los Angeles, $1.95 per mile, down 3 centsChicago, $2.01 per mile, down 6 centsAtlanta, $1.88 per mile, down 1 centBuffalo, $1.94 per mile, down 3 cents
While Houston was one of a few major van markets where prices did not decline last week, unchanged at $1.54 per mile, outbound lanes from Dallas fell off the pace with Dallas-Houston falling 6 cents to $2.09 per mile and Dallas-Chicago down 1 cent to $1.13 per mile. All rates include fuel surcharges.
In the reefer market, while volumes actually improved on the top 72 lanes for refrigerated freight, the reefer load-to-truck ratio fell a full 20% to 5.3 to 1 nationally as the number of posted reefer loads declined 14% and capacity rose 8%. The average reefer rate lost just 1 cent to $1.97 per mile but is 6 cents less than it was three weeks earlier.
No single market or region is driving produce freight right now, so volumes are shifting around the country, accordign to DAT. Last week, the big swings were in the Midwest. The average rate from Grand Rapids-Madison, Wisconsin rose 31 cents to $2.71 per mile while Green Bay-Des Moines …Read the rest of this story
