December produced the first month-over-month positive change in spot truckload van and refrigerated freight rates since January, as severe weather and a late surge of holiday goods helped generate demand for capacity, said DAT Freight & Analytics, which operates the DAT One freight marketplace and the DAT iQ data analytics service.
The spot market is still flush with capacity — more trucks and carriers even than in 2019, according to DAT Freight & Analytics.
We’ve all heard the news about various companies producing electric powered trucks, but are these trucks a realistic replacement for the diesel-powered vehicles that are on the road today?
While freight demand slows to start 2023, other costs such as equipment and labor remain high, pushing smaller companies that gained for-hire authority in recent years to abandon the market and seek company driving jobs.
In mid-2022, the investment advisory service Zack’s touted the benefits of investing in trucking companies. “Upbeat trucking volumes owing to increased freight demand are driving the industry's growth,” said its report. “Higher trucking rates amid capacity constraints contribute to buoyancy in the trucking industry.”
Particularly in the last five months, the primary market where owner-operators and many smaller carriers find and price loads to haul has been on a road to recovery after a time when the marketplace struggled, load board observers say.
Load posts increased to one of the highest levels in the past six years last week. We’ll have details on that and the latest on rates in this week’s market update with DAT.
Although forecasts say the first quarter of 2023 will be particularly tough for the industry, trucking remains the most relied-upon freight transport mode in the U.S. and increased infrastructure spending could be a potential boon.
Our annual gathering of freight transportation industry analysts reveals some common themes, largely around the notion that rates are not likely to increase much—if at all—in some modes and will continue declining in others. Does this mean things are stabilizing?
From new consumer buying patterns to dramatically higher costs for fuel and labor, truckload freight professionals faced fresh challenges in 2022 that have led to a more measured, data-driven approach to 2023, according to a new annual report published by DAT Freight & Analytics.