Spot Freight Rates Improve Little From Last Week, But April Up Year Over Year

Freight rates on the spot market gained little ground or fell over the past week, according to new numbers from the freight matching service providers DAT, but they increased significantly last month compared to a year earlier.

From April 27 through May 3, compared to the previous seven days, the average rate for vans fell 3.9% to $1.95 per mile, while the load-to-truck ratio declined 0.5%

The average rate for reefers lost 0.9% to $2.26 per mile as the load-to-truck ratio fell 6.9%. Flatbed rates increased just 0.4% to $2.36 per mile, their best showing out of the last four weeks, while the load-to-truck ratio improved 0.3%.

All this happed as the total number of spot market loads increased 2.9% while capacity grew by a bigger margin of 3.5%.

When April is compared to the same time in 2013, average freight rates were 15% higher for vans and reefers while flatbeds gained 9.3%. April rates compared to the previous month (March) did not do as well, with flatbeds gaining only 2.2% while reefers increased 0.4% and vans lost 3.8%.