May DAT Truckload Volume Index readings are stable

The May edition of the DAT Truckload Volume Index (TVI), which was issued this week by DAT Freight & Analytics, saw improvements over May readings, which were largely down.

The DAT Truckload Volume Index reflects the change in the number of loads with a pickup date during that month, with the actual index number normalized each month to accommodate any new data sources without distortion, with a baseline of 100 equal to the number of loads moved in January 2015. It measures dry van, refrigerated (reefer), and flatbed trucks moved by truckload carriers.

DAT’s data highlighted the following takeaways for truckload volumes, load-to-truck ratios, and rates, for the month of May, including:

• the Van TVI was up 5% compared to April, to 220, and down 4.8% annually;
• the reefer TVI was up 5% compared to April, to 164, and down 5.7% annually;
• the flatbed TVI was up 7% compared to April, to 258 (DAT said that each of these readings saw improvements over their April readings, which were at their lowest levels since February 2021, when a polar vortex and harsh winter storms severely impacted logistics activity across wide areas of the U.S. and Canada, and also noted that truckload volumes, from April to May, increased for the first time since 2019), and was up 5.2% annually;
• the national average broker to carrier spot rates in May were mixed and steady compared to April, said DAT, with the spot van rate down 0.01, to $2.05 per mile, spot reefer rate up 0.03, to $2.44 per mile, and the spot flatbed rate down 0.02, to $2.65 per mile;
• national average line-haul rates, which subtract an amount equal to an average fuel surcharge, were up across the board, with the average van line-haul rate up 0.02 compared to April, at $1.61, the reefer line haul rate was up 0.07, to $1.96 per mile, and the flatbed line-haul rate was up 0.02, to $2.12 per mile;
• contract rates saw declines, with van rates down 0.06, to $2.62 per mile, reefer rates down 0.10, to $2.91 per mile, and flatbed down 0.03, to $3.30 per mile; and
• national average load-to-truck ratios seeing May gains, with van at 2.5 over April’s 1.9, which was its lowest reading since May 2020, during the onset of the pandemic, reefer at 3.6, up from April’s 2.7, which was its lowest point since April 2020, and flatbed at 11.7, down from April’s 12.1

“This was the second-best May on record for van and reefer freight, according to our TVI,” said Ken Adamo, DAT Chief of Analytics, in a statement. “There was demand to move seasonal goods at a time when the truck supply on the spot market tightened due to the International Roadcheck inspection event, the Memorial Day holiday and general carrier attrition. Shippers are taking advantage of abundant truckload capacity to establish new contract rates at substantial savings compared to 2022, and to make strategic use of the spot market. We expect these trends to continue through the end of the year.”

DAT Principal Analyst Dean Croke told LM in a recent interview that in looking back at the last nine months there have been more trucks than loads in the spot market.

“I think that gap is closing very rapidly in the spot market,” he said. “And I say that because the best indicator of that is spot rates and they've been flat for three weeks now. All of April they were dead flat, and we kind of thought, ‘well is this the bottom?’ because diesel prices just dropped $0.10 cents per gallon, and that will give carriers some more runway to extend this lack of a profitable period they are in. Between now and Memorial Day is absolutely critical, in terms of determining which way the market goes.”

The reason for that, he explained, is that produce season is a key driver of activity over that period, for this time of year, in terms of the seasonality bump that occurs.