Spot Market

It’s important to take note of the rapid adaptation by ocean carriers to the elastic demand in international freight in 2020. The owners and operators went from famine to feast in a few months.

Portland, Ore.-based DAT Freight & analytics, an online marketplace for spot market truckload freight, and Chicago-based FourKites, a provider of real-time tracking and visibility solutions across transportation modes and digital platforms, recently heralded a strategic partnership focused on bringing FourKite’s real-time, end-to-end supply chain visibility into DAT’s network.

Coming off of March, which was the highest monthly output ever, April was the second-highest, even with the sequential decline, coming in at 225, a 5% decline compared to March. And the April TVI was up 39% compared to April 2020 and was up 26% compared to April 2019.

The February van load-to-truck ratio, at 7.5, was up from January’s 4.3, setting a new record, with the reefer ratio, at 15.9, also set a new record, and coming in ahead of January’s 8.2 ratio, with the flatbed ratio going from 47.9 in January to 62.2 in February

DAT noted that the week of February 21 was the busiest week ever for load postings on the DAT network, with the total number of available loads exceeding 10 million and was 42% higher than the previous record set in June 2018 and 174% higher compared to the same period last year. A DAT spokesman told LM that, for perspective, the DAT network had 226 million loads posted last year, meaning that the activity from the week of February 21 represented almost 5% of last year’s traffic...

The DAT Truckload Volume Index reflects the change in the number of loads with a pickup date during that month, with the actual index number normalized each month to accommodate any new data sources without distortion, with a baseline of 100 equal to the number of loads moved in January 2015. It measures dry van, refrigerated (reefer), and flatbed trucks moved by truckload carriers. Overall, the index decreased 2.0% from December to January and was up 7.5% annually.

While the truckload spot market finished 2020 from a position of strength, in that it hit various highs, DAT Freight and Analytics recently pointed out that spot rates have subsequently fallen 10% since the end of the year and are pegged to head down another 8%-to-10% in the coming weeks.

The firm reported that spot truckload freight postings, for the week ending December 13, fell 15%, and trucks available on the spot market rose 13%, which it said serves as an indication that spot truckload capacity is loosening up in advance of Christmas.

The September edition of the DAT Truckload Volume Index, which was issued this week by DAT Freight & analytics, an online marketplace for spot market truckload freight, picked up where August left off, posting all-time highs for spot market rates for van and refrigerated, or reefer, truckload freight.

The confluence of COVID-induced disruptions to supply chains and unpredictable trucking demand levels will mean sharply higher truckload rates well into 2021, a leading TL executive is predicting. Mark Rourke, president and CEO of Schneider, the nation’s second-largest truckload carrier, said the nation’s supply chains are in “a highly unique period” in our recent history.

Rates based on rolling averages, through September 27, came in at: $2.37 per mile for van, unchanged on a weekly basis (and is up 14 cents compared to the national contract rate); flatbed rose 1 cent, to $2.40 per mile; and refrigerated was unchanged, at $2.57 per mile.

The August edition of the DAT Truckload Volume Index, which was issued this week by DAT Freight & Analytics, a subsidiary of Roper Technologies and operator of an online marketplace for spot market truckload freight, highlighted how spot market truckload rates approached all-time highs in August, with various trucking segments seeing rate and load-to-truck ratio gains.

The July edition of the DAT Truckload Volume Index, which was issued this week by DAT Freight & Analytics, a subsidiary of Roper Technologies and operator of an online marketplace for spot market truckload freight, pointed to gains, at a time when market conditions and freight demand remain impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

It would be in the best interest of all parties to speed up the adoption of digital standards and platforms for demand planning, tracking and settlement for all modes of transport.

In a mid-quarter update of the Coyote Curve by Coyote Logistics, a subsidiary of freight transportation and logistics services bellwether UPS, provided a wide-ranging overview of the freight market conditions, from three different perspectives: a look back at the second quarter; expectations for the third quarter; and a 2020-2023 forecast.