“It’s one of those developing stories,” Dean Croke, principal analyst at DAT Solutions, told Transport Topics. “The metaphor of a rippling effect is very appropriate, because most of the experts think that there is a ripple effect that’s going to last well into the summer.”
Spot load posts on the DAT load board were up nearly 130% YoY in March, but capacity continues to be an issue with truck postings falling almost 7% YoY. Comparing levels to March 2020 is difficult given the freight environment in the early days of the pandemic, but spot posts were up even more (232%) compared to the same period in 2019.
Ken Adamo, DAT’s Chief of Analytics, said: “In a volatile rate environment, forward-looking pricing tools are essential to producing a competitive bid. With Multilane Rates and pricing forecasts up to 52 weeks in advance, Ratecast subscribers can now confidently navigate the bidding process by incorporating the industry’s most reliable predictive and historical rates into their workflows and analysis.
Assistant editor Mackenna Moralez discusses how the transportation industry is moving forward with data and analytics with Ken Adamo, DAT Freight & Analytics.
Spot rates remained high but showed little movement compared to the previous week despite the urgency of shippers to move freight before the close of the quarter.
Truckload van and refrigerated freight volumes leveled off while the flatbed load-to-truck ratio jumped sharply last week, said DAT Freight & Analytics, which operates the industry’s largest load board network. The total number of loads posted to the DAT network increased 0.7% and the number of trucks dipped 1.3% week over week; rates held steady for van and reefer freight while flatbed pricing reflected strong demand for trucks.
Freight marketplace provider DAT Solutions says rates on the truckload spot market have been pushing to historic highs. The average per-mile rate for dry-van transport on the spot market so far this month was up 31 cents, or 13.1%, from January.
Truckload van and refrigerated freight volumes on the MembersEdge load board leveled off while the flatbed load-to-truck ratio jumped sharply last week. The total number of loads posted to the DAT network increased just 0.7%, and the number of trucks dipped 1.3% week over week.
DAT Freight & Analytics reported a 174% year-over-year increase with total available loads exceeding 10 million for the week ending Feb. 21. This marked its busiest week ever for load postings — some 42% higher than the previous record set in June 2018.
The number of loads posted on DAT MembersEdge fell 11.4% and the number of trucks increased 9.2% last week compared to the previous week. Easing capacity and more predictable travel conditions appear to have propelled spot rates to a plateau well above seasonal expectations.