According to DAT Solutions, spot truckload rates for van, refrigerated, and flatbed have all seen increases since last month, with supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 pushing more freight to the spot market at a time when demand for truckload capacity usually declines.
Looking at the spot market for the third week of July, it's hard to tell where we may be going, with rates and volumes hard to compare to typical seasonal trends due to COVID-19.
Spot market freight levels were down for the Independence Day holiday week, but rates were up, according to DAT and Truckstop.com, two major services tracking spot market data.
DAT Solutions has brought together a number of different trucking tools into one, easy-to-use, mobile app, according to the company.
According to DAT Freight Trends for the week of June 1-7, average van, refrigerated, and flatbed rates have recovered to where they were prior to widespread shutdowns of the U.S. due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
With all 50 states relaxing COVID-19 shutdown orders to various extents, trucking shipments and rates are heading back up – but don't expect a true recovery until 2021.
Freight rates on the spot market in April plunged to five-year lows, thanks to plummeting demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It's so bad, owner-operators have been protesting all over the country, calling for more broker regulation. But is it really a broker problem? Or classic supply and demand?
DAT Solutions has launched three new products to help truckload carriers and brokers further manage some of the uncertainty in the freight business in the current COVID-19 environment: Ratecast, Market Conditions Index, and Book Now.
As stay-at-home orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic took hold across much of the country in the latter part of March, the level of freight available – and the rates to haul it – plummeted. This means many of the smallest companies that make up the vast majority of motor carriers are seriously hurting.
While COVID-19 related demand boosted freight volume and spot freight in the first part of March, the latter part of the month saw a reversal, and April is looking ugly.