Volume was way up last week. Was it a month-end spike, or real growth? I asked Mark Montague and he said there is not usually a surge at the end of July. In fact, the month of July is typically time for a lull in spot market freight availability and rates.
What we had was an unusually short-lived slump, according to Mark.
I asked why rates didn’t go up last week, too. Usually, when volume increases and load-to-truck ratios jump as much as they did last week, we will see rates moving up as well.
In fact, we did see a pattern of rising rates, but not in all markets and lanes. In some cases, rates were stable because carriers hadn’t yet realized that those lanes were facing a new truck shortage so soon after the last one ended.