Spot Market Loads Move Higher, Rates Generally Fall

The number of loads on one major spot market has picked up since last week, but rates have headed south in two out of three main sectors.

The latest DAT Transcore Trendlines shows spot market freight volume increased the week of April 7 by 1.1% from the week of March 31 while capacity moved 10% higher.

Van rates during the period fell an average of 2.2% to $1.80 per mile while those for flatbeds decreased 0.9% to $2.15 per mile. Reefer rates were unchanged at $2.07 per mile

Also numbers for all of March show spot market freight volume increased 37% from the month before but is down 4.1% from March of 2012. Rates for the vans, flatbeds and reefers were all around 2.5% higher in March from the month before. In contrast compared to March of last year rates for vans were just 0.6% higher while flatbeds say a 5.4% falloff and reefers down 0.5%.

DAT Transcore notes fuel prices decreased 1% in March compared to the previous month and dropped 1.4% compared to March 2012.