Trucking Rates

January’s reading—at 229—was off 3% compared to December, but it still represented the highest-ever TVI reading in January, while posting a 15% annual increase. DAT said that the number of loads posted to the DAT One load board network saw a 34.7% increase, from December to January, and were up 104.7% annually.

Inflationary pressures are increasing chances of another large bankruptcy—or perhaps more—in trucking this year, a top industry executive tells LM. Greg Orr, executive vice president of U.S. Truckload of Montreal-based TFI and president of CFI, a major truckload carrier, says he’s beginning to see effects of higher prices on everything from heavy trucks to fuel.

During this podcast, podcast, Jeff Berman, Group News Editor for Logistics Management and the Peerless Media Supply Chain Group, interviews Mike Regan, Co-Founder and Chief Relationship Officer, at TranzAct Technologies.

Myron P. "Mike" Shevell, who rose from driving a pickle truck to leading one of the most profitable family-owned trucking companies during his nearly 75-year career in the industry, died on Jan. 24 in Palm Beach, Fla. The indefatigable Shevell was 87.

November’s TVI reading—at 239—matched October, which initially set a new record for the number of loads moved by motor carriers in a month, according to DAT. And DAT said that national average truckload spot, van, and reefer rates headed up for the sixth consecutive month, with contract van and reefer (refrigerated) rates having seen increases each month going back to May 2020.

DHL Supply Chain, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL Group, said it has established a partnership with Emerge, a provider of its proprietary Digital Freight Marketplace (DFM) and TMS focused on accelerating productivity and increasing visibility for supply chain stakeholders and freight procurement. Through this partnership, DHL is integrating Emerge’s Spot Marketplace capabilities into the DHL LLP Control Tower and TMS offerings, with a focus on providing timely and market competitive coverage for spot market freight.

Amid what one trucking analyst calls “an everything shortage,” shippers enter 2022 with heavy volumes of truck shipments bracing for continued higher ground freight rates. Those rates can run in the double-digit percentage increases—on top of 2021’s increases. Those increased freight rates tended to be upward of 10% for shippers whose freight did not match carriers’ needs in this sellers’ market.

The most recent edition of the DAT Truckload Volume Index (TVI), for the month of October, which was recently released by DAT Freight & Analytics, again set a new all-time high, with the firm observing that truckload prices, at all-time highs, reflect how shippers are willing to pay premium rates to move their freight.

For September, the most recent month for which data is available, the TCI came in at 11.79, up from August’s 11.63. The July TCI reading was 10.78, trailing June and May, at 12.61 and 15.72, respectively. The all-time record reading, for the TCI, is May’s. 16.82, which topped March’s 16.17, the previous all-time high.

The trucking industry is suing over President Joe Biden’s vaccine policy that requires private sector employers with over 100 employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The American Trucking Associations (ATA), along with the Louisiana Motor Truck Association, the Mississippi Trucking Association and the Texas Trucking Association, joined other business groups representing various facets of the supply chain in suing the Biden administration over its employer-based COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The report’s shipment index value—at 124.6—increased 1.5% compared to the second quarter (down from a 4.4% growth rate, from the first quarter to the second quarter) and increased 2.4% annually. On a year-to-date basis, through the first three quarters of 2021, shipments are up 1.1% annually. And the third quarter freight spend reading—at 246.8—was up 5.6% compared to the first quarter (down from a 10.1% increase, from the first quarter to the second quarter) and saw a 32.6% annual increase.

In this podcast, Jeff Berman, Group News Editor for Logistics Management and the Peerless Media Supply Chain Group, interviews Anne Reinke, President and CEO of the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA).

Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently spoke with Doug Waggoner, CEO of Chicago-based Echo Global Logistics about various topics, including: the state of the freight economy, a look at the upcoming Peak Season, the trucking market, and M&A, among others.

Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently spoke with Dave Bates, senior vice president of operations, for Thomasville, North Carolina-based less-than-truckload services provider Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL).

For June, the most recent month for which data is available, the SCI reading was -12.0, which FTR noted “[reflects] a tough environment for shippers."