Prices on the spot trucking market, where businesses book last-minute transportation, were down 16% in April compared with the prior year, according to online freight marketplace DAT Solutions LLC.
The plunge in truckload spot rates — DAT Solutions' dry-van average spot rate was down 19 percent year over year in April at $1.80 per gallon, and $1.49 per gallon before fuel surcharges — has led to pricing that Broughton called “unsustainable."
Brokers to see drop from historic business climate of 2018, but market strong enough to handle challenges in regulations, weather and politics, DAT says.
Spot freight rates began falling in late 2018 and continued to decline through the first quarter, according to DAT Solutions, which tracks load prices.
Average national trucking costs hit a record $2.32 per mile in June 2018, up 29% from a year earlier, according to DAT. Since then the market has cooled, with costs averaging $1.87 per mile so far this month.
The freight matching process begins with pricing. Whenever ShipEx Logistics gets a new business opportunity from a customer or prospect, a salesperson uses DAT RateView to analyze historical rate trends for specific lanes.
Regulation remains a key concern of the trucking industry, including Federal and state rules governing driver hours and pay, according to DAT Solutions, a Portland, Ore.-based company that matches freight with carriers.
Trucking companies face an uphill climb in 2019 as a freight boom that delivered record profit for carriers over the past year begins to soften.
Following a record year for freight demand and the highest tonnage in two decades, the trucking industry expects to see slower growth in 2019, a result of economic uncertainty.
Back in the day, brokers seeking truck drivers used to post index cards describing available loads on bulletin boards at truck stops around the country. It was a messy and inefficient system, but in 1978, a Portland, OR., company called Dial-a-Truck, or DAT, thought there must be a better way.