Truck posts jump after Roadcheck week; rates stayed firm

June 1, 2022

Special to Land Line

|

Capacity on the spot market rebounded last week, with truck posts on DAT MembersEdge up 13% compared to the previous week. Load posts slipped, however.

Dry van equipment posts rose 11.2% during the week of May 22-28, while reefer equipment posts jumped 20.3%. Flatbed equipment posts increased 13.3% week over week.

Truck-posting activity returned to where it was prior to the International Roadcheck inspection blitz held May 17-19, when the number of trucks on the network fell 16%.

Load availability fell

The total number of load posts on the network fell 7.4% from 4.8 million to 4.5 million, down 9% year over year. Dry van load posts slipped 7.6% week over week and reefer load posts dropped 20.1% after a 75.0% increase the prior week. The number of flatbed load posts dipped 3.3% week over week.

There were more dry van loads on MembersEdge last week than there were at any point in 2018, which was considered a boom year for spot freight. However, the number of posted van loads was down 6% year over year while capacity was up 2% year over year and 51% higher compared to 2018.

Load-to-truck ratios declined for all three equipment types.

  • Vans: 4.6 loads per truck as a national average, down from 5.6
  • Reefers: 7.6, down from 11.5
  • Flatbeds: 60.1, down from 70.4

Rates stayed firm

  • National average spot rates held steady:
  • Vans: $2.73 per mile, unchanged from the previous week
  • Reefers: $3.04 a mile, unchanged
  • Flatbeds: $3.34 a mile, up 4 cents

Spot rates are national average broker-to-carrier rates negotiated on a per-transaction basis. The rates shown here include a fuel surcharge portion. Ultimately, the rate you negotiate is up to you.

What to watch this week

California dry van

Los Angeles is one of the only hot markets for van freight in the West.  Capacity tightened for the third straight week, producing a load-to-truck ratio of 8.7 over the last seven days.

Los Angeles to Seattle averaged $3.78 per mile over the last seven days, while rates for loads to Chicago continue to decrease, averaging $2.43 per mile, well off the high of $3.69 a mile last December when fuel prices were nearly $2 a gallon less than what they are today.

Los Angeles to Chicago is a key intermodal lane; as ports in China resume work and imports arrive at Los Angeles and Long Beach this summer, expect demand for truckload services to pick up given the persistent inefficiencies at intermodal yards.

It’s hurricane season

The first week of June marks the start of hurricane season in the Atlantic. Supply and demand follow a predictable pattern before and after hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean. Before hurricanes and or storms make landfall, inbound demand spikes as supplies are positioned in advance, capacity evaporates as carriers seek safer ground, and outbound demand surges as shippers look to move freight out of harm’s way. The reverse happens post-landfall.

We expect FEMA to be prepared this season and will continue to stage emergency equipment and supplies at sites including Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, ideally located to ship emergency relief within hours of landfall. Last year, with Hurricane Ida in the forecast during the week ending Aug. 21, inbound flatbed and dry van load-post volumes into the Montgomery freight market were almost five times higher before the storm made landfall.

For more information

DAT offers market analysis every Wednesday on Land Line Now, and detailed market updates at DAT.com/blog/category/market-update.

DAT MembersEdge is a service provided exclusively to OOIDA members at a discounted price. LL

Listen to last week’s Land Line Now discussion on Memorial Day freight with Stephen Petit of DAT.