Cass Information Systems has aligned with Avondale Partners, LLC, an investment banking and wealth management firm, to create an index that reflects truckload pricing trends in North America.

The Cass Truckload Linehaul Index measures fluctuations in linehaul per-mile market rates and will be released monthly. This is the only index that focuses solely on the linehaul component of full truckload costs, which is the most consistent driver behind transportation costs.

"Cass aggregates and maintains the largest and most detailed database of freight spend information in North America," stated Donald Broughton, managing director and senior equity analyst, transportation. "After thorough evaluation of the Cass data, I also believe it is the most accurate and timely insight available."

Avondale will incorporate the Cass Truckload Linehaul Index data into in-depth market analyses it publishes on the transportation sector.

The Cass Truckload Linehaul Index is based on linehaul per-mile pricing as of January 2005. Using a base value of 100, the Index for September registered a value of 111.0, representing year-over-year growth of 11.7%. It also marks the highest linehaul pricing that carriers have commanded since the 2005 baseline period.

"By aggregating transportation expense data for millions of U.S. shipments, we continue to build a wealth of business intelligence that has valuable market applications. By publishing the index, we can provide tremendous value to clients, industry analysts and other market watchers," said John Pickering, chief operating officer, Cass' Transportation Information Services division. "We look forward to releasing additional mode-specific indexes in 2012."

Interested parties can subscribe to receive the Index monthly at www.cassinfo.com.