The availability of spot market freight improved by 65 percent in November over November of last year, according to the TransCore Freight Index.
The TransCore Freight Index measures truckload freight volume on load boards supported by the DAT Network, including 3sixty Freight Match and TruckersEdge.net.

According to TransCore, load-to-truck ratios on the spot market have been improving since February. November's ratio of 2.5 loads posted per available truck was 120 percent higher than the load-to-truck ratio for November 2008. TransCore attributes this to the increasing freight volume in 2009 and excess capacity in the fourth quarter of 2008 that led carriers to post their available equipment more aggressively than would be typical for the holiday shipping season.

In addition, November marked the fourth month of better-than-seasonal improvement. Although November 2009 freight volume was down 4.4 percent from October, freight availability in the spot market fell 37 percent over the same two month period of 2008.

Brokers, 3PLs, carriers, and owner-operators in North America list more than 50 million loads and trucks per year across a variety of services feeding TransCore's DAT Network. As a result of this high volume, TransCore's Freight Index is representative of the ups and downs in U.S. spot market freight availability.