Spot market activity off to slower start in Q4, reports DAT

Following what it called an urgency on behalf of shippers to move freight prior to the end of the third quarter, data recently issued by Portland, Oregon-based freight marketplace platform and information provider DAT, a subsidiary of Roper Technologies, in its DAT Trendlines report, showed a more quiet beginning to the fourth quarter for spot market activity.

This quiet beginning, noted DAT, was primarily in the form of a declining load-to-truck ratio for vans, reefers, and flatbeds, while national average rates for vans and flatbeds came in ahead of September averages.

DAT’s Trendlines reported the following for various categories:

• spot load posts were down 3.5% from the week of Sept. 30-Oct. 6 compared to the week of Sept. 23 to Sept 29, were flat from August to September, and down 12.4% annually in September;
• spot truck posts were up 2.6% from the week of Sept. 30-Oct. 6 compared to the week of Sept. 23 to Sept 29, were down 7.2% from August to September, and up 14.9% annually in September;
• van spot rates were up 1.7% from the week of Sept. 30-Oct. 6 compared to the week of Sept. 23 to Sept 29, were up 1.5% from August to September; and down 13.9% annually in September;
• van load-to-truck ratio was down 8.6% from the week of Sept. 30-Oct. 6 compared to the week of Sept. 23 to Sept 29, were up 6.6% from August to September; and down 24.2% annually in September;
• flatbed load-to-truck ratio was down 1.2% from the week of Sept. 30-Oct. 6 compared to the week of Sept. 23 to Sept 29, were up 18.5% from August to September; and down 30% annually in September;
• flatbed spot rates were up 1.5% from the week of Sept. 30-Oct. 6 compared to the week of Sept. 23 to Sept 29, down 0.1% from August to September; and down 14.1% annually in September;
• reefer load-to-truck ratio was down 5.1% from the week of Sept. 30-Oct. 6 compared to the week of Sept. 23 to Sept 29, up 0.1% from August to September; and down 24.2% annually in September; and
• reefer spot rates were up 0.5% from the week of Sept. 30-Oct. 6 compared to the week of Sept. 23 to Sept 29, were up 0.8% from August to September; and down 13.9% annually in September

These numbers are in line with spot market activity that has quelled on a year-to-date basis compared to 2018, which was extremely active.

This was made clear by Mike Regan, chief relationship officer at TranzAct Technologies, whom observed that around mid-year spot market rates were, in some cases, 20% higher than contract rates, whereas a year later in 2019 they were roughly 50 cents lower.

“The current rates were put in place when the market was extremely tight, and carriers could not find enough drivers,” he said. “There seems to be excess capacity in the marketplace now…it is a good time to negotiate lower rates.”

DAT Freight Broker Newsletter editor Pat Pitz wrote earlier this year that while rates have declined in 2019, spot market volume is still solid.

Among the reasons cited by Pitz were truckload capacity not being as tight this year as it was in 2018, coupled with trucks became harder to find after the ELD mandate went into effect, which put upward pressure on spot rates.