Trucking Rates

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."

DAT reported that the number of available loads on the spot truckload freight market increased 0.3%, and the number of available trucks, for the week, was off 1.2% on a sequential basis. The firm explained that while spot market truckload rates usually see a seasonal dip following the July 4 holiday, that was not the case this year, with rates remaining high throughout the month.

Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently spoke wirth Matt Pyatt, CEO and co-founder of Austin, Texas-based freight brokerage and transportation management services provider Arrive Logistics. Pyatt provided Berman with an overview of various industry topics, including: the truckload spot and contract market, the freight economy, capacity, and the possibility of more of a North American-driven supply chain, among others.

As the initial shock, or surprise, of last week’s announcement that San Francisco-based Uber Freight announced it is acquiring Frisco, Texas-based Transplace.

Paced by a combination of rising truckload volumes, due largely to high levels of retail imports and peak produce shipments, June spot and contract truckload rates reached a new record, for the June edition of the DAT Truckload Volume Index, which was recently released by DAT Freight & analytics, an online marketplace for spot market truckload freight, tuned in another strong month of performance.

The report’s shipment reading—at 1.231—saw a 26.8% annual gain, falling short of May’s 35.3 annual increase, to 1.269, which set a new record for annual percentage growth and the second-best reading ever, trailing only May 2018. Compared to May, the June reading was off 3% and was off 4.2%, for the same period, on a seasonally-adjusted (SA) basis, following May’s 5.9% SA gain compared to April.

Tucker kicked off his presentation by describing market conditions as “red hot right now,” for various reasons. One reason has to do with more freight moving in 2021 compared to the same period a year ago, as the market is roughly 12 months into a pretty significant increase in freight activity and a resulting capacity crisis. And this is also reflected in the rate environment, too, to be sure, he added.

The report’s shipments index value—at 117.5—was off 8.3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, and it was off 5.4% annually. On the spend side, the first quarter reading—at 212.2—was off 4.7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020 while increasing 12.8% annually.

The February SCI, which is the most recent month for which data is available, came in at -11.8, below January’s -9.8. January’s reading marked an improvement over December’s -10.9. FTR said that the fourth quarter of 2020 presented the most difficult market conditions for shippers going back to early 2018.

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. Overall, the index headed up 31%, from February to March. This marked its highest level going back to when...

While the subject of a truck driver shortage ostensibly never runs out of roadway, data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) highlighted what a “tumultuous year for trucking” 2020 was. That was a key theme of a recent blog posted written by Jeff Tucker, president of Haddonfield, N.J.-based Tucker Worldwide, the nation’s oldest freight brokerage.

DAT noted that the week of February 21 was the busiest week ever for load postings on the DAT network, with the total number of available loads exceeding 10 million and was 42% higher than the previous record set in June 2018 and 174% higher compared to the same period last year. A DAT spokesman told LM that, for perspective, the DAT network had 226 million loads posted last year, meaning that the activity from the week of February 21 represented almost 5% of last year’s traffic...

Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently spoke with Aaron Terrazas, Director of Economic Research, for Seattle-based digital freight network Convoy, about various topics, including the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on freight transportation operations, truckload capacity, and Peak Season, among other topics.

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. Overall, the index decreased 2.0% from December to January and was up 7.5% annually.

ATA officials said that the turnover rate for truckload carriers with more than $30 million in annual revenue headed up 10% to 92% on an annualized basis, while the turnover rate for smaller truckload carriers saw a 14% increase to 74%. Even with these gains, ATA observed that that average turnover rate for 2020 is lagging 2019. And less-than-truckload (LTL) saw the annualized turnover rate increase 2%, to 14%.