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.
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.
The pressure to restock grocery stores and distribution centers stripped by COVID-19 buying has quickly given way to a slump for truck freight. As March segued into April, the spot market took a tumble, according to figures from DAT Solutions and Truckstop.com.
While it’s been a challenging year for the trucking industry in some ways, comparisons to the runaway market of 2017-2018 may make it seem worse than it is. In their monthly State of Freight webinar Dec. 12, the transportation intelligence analysts at FTR discussed the top trends affecting freight volumes and rates.
The national average spot van rate hit its highest level since last January and load-to-truck ratios for all three equipment types surged during the week ending Dec. 8, according to DAT Solutions.
First-quarter 2019 GDP grew at 3.2%, and the latest guess about the second quarter is 1.7%. That latter number is a disappointment for sure, but it is not a negative, says longtime trucking economic analyst Noel Perry. But what about freight?
Roadrunner Freight has introduced an integrated tool to give less-than-truckload shippers instant access to volume spot quotes.
Despite several wildfires breaking out across Southern California in recent days, the impact on trucking spot rates is not expected to exceed levels seen during the October wildfires in Northern California.
Truckstop.com, in partnership with FTR, has introduced the Rate Forecasting tool, which is designed to project spot market rates using historical paid rate data.
The amount of freight on the spot market has jumped considerably over the last week, but rates have improved little, according to freight matching service provider DAT's latest numbers.