DAT Industry Pricing Analyst Mark Montague says that the spot market has seen strong growth during the past few months and he expects that growth to continue at least through the end of the year.
“If you look at ATA numbers on the for-hire part of trucking, you might say that for-hire freight revenue is the same year to year,” Montague said in an interview at the DAT User Conference last month. “But we see the spot market part of truckload growing.”
Montague says multiple factors have contributed to increased demand, including:
- Economic growth, specially in energy and construction
- Hurricanes and related relief efforts that drove up demand and rates in the fall
- The approaching ELD mandate
Holiday Season Adds Pressure
Montague sees no signs of demand and rates tapering off, with the holiday season coming on the heels of the current record-setting demand.
“Retail numbers that are starting to come out back up our assertion that load volumes will continue to rise, which puts a lot of pressure on truck capacity.” he said.
RFQ Season Ahead
This is also the time of year when many brokers are asked by shippers to provide a Request for Quote for the coming year. Montague says RFQs will be trickier because the past year has not followed normal historical patterns.
Missed the 2017 DAT User Conference?
The DAT blog includes highlights from the 2017 sessions, with topics about the ELD mandate, cargo theft, economic trends, how to get the most out of your DAT tools, and more. See Conference Highlights.
