Not surprisingly, in the week of September 12 to 18, load availability on the spot freight market increased by 21% while equipment capacity increased by 26% compared to the week before. The uptick compensates for the one-day hiatus in most load board activity over the Labor Day holiday.
The net? During the first half of September, freight loads declined 10% while capacity increased slightly (1%) on the spot market. Consequently, the load-to-truck ratio came down by 11%, to 5.13 available loads per truck.
Even though demand has declined slightly, capacity is still constrained in many markets nationwide. The impact on rates varies by equipment type: Flatbed and reefer rates moved up by a penny per mile through September 18 compared to the national average for the month of August. Van rates held steady on the spot market at $1.28 per mile for line haul. Spot market rates are updated daily, based on a 30-day rolling average of thousands of broker rate agreements across the U.S.
For more spot freight market trends, go to www.TransCoreTrendlines.com.
