Spot Rates

Load posts on DAT One rose 2% to 2.26 million last week, while truck posts fell for the second consecutive week, down 5% to 232,703.

DAT said that the number of available loads on the spot market headed up over the last week of August, due to the pairing of a national brake-inspection campaign and the lead-up to Labor Day weekend tightening capacity. It also noted that August freight volumes were softer than usual, especially for van loads, coupled with the Van TVI turning in its lowest reading for the month of August since 2021.

The van TVI, at 243, was down 2% compared to May and up 4% annually, and the refrigerated (reefer) TVI, at 191, was down 5% compared to May and up 10% annually.

There were 1.93 million loads on the DAT One network during the week of June 29 to July 5 (Week 27), which is down 20% compared to the previous week and is expected when comparing a holiday week to a full workweek.

The firm said that van and reefer rates typically head up in May, driven by demand to move produce and retail goods in advance of Memorial Day increases, coupled with drivers planning downtime around the three-day Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance Roadcheck enforcement, which takes place in mid-May.

DAT cited inventory replenishment efforts by shippers following the holidays—coupled with pulling forward imports ahead of anticipated tariff actions and also trying to secure flexible, short-term spot market capacity to better deal with harsh winter weather—as the main drivers for spot truckload freight volume gains.

DAT reported that total spot loads posted on the DAT One Network sequentially increased 14.9%, to 2.01 million, representing the highest weekly tally of available loads going back to the week of July 7-July 13. While loads saw gains, DAT said weekly truck posts headed down 16.3%, to 275,594, with the company citing velocity in East Coast freight networks seeing what it called a dramatic slowdown, driven by the pairing of bad weather and, on a lesser level, the short-lived port strike.

The van TVI, at 289, was up 2.8% over July and up 6.3% annually,and the refrigerated TVI, at 220, was up 4.3% compared to July and up 17.6% annually; The flatbed TVI, at 287, was up 0.3% compared to July and down 0.3% annually, snapping a three-month stretch of sequential declines;

DAT said that the number of loads on the DAT One load board marketplace dropped for the second consecutive week, falling 3%, to 1.83 million, compared to the previous week, while falling 7% annually, with truck posts down 6%, to 324,253.

The November edition of the DAT Truckload Volume Index (TVI), which was recently issued by DAT Freight & Analytics, showed a solid post-Thanksgiving bump in truckload freight volumes compared to previous Novembers.  

The Van TVI was up 5% compared to April, to 220, the reefer TVI was up 5% compared to April, to 164, and the flatbed TVI was up 7% compared to April, to 258.

February’s van freight TVI—at 207—fell 8%, from January to February, and was down 5% annually. The refrigerated (reefer) TVI—at 162—was down 7.9% compared to January and off 4.7% annually. And the flatbed TVI—at 217—was in line with January’s 218 reading and up 7.9% annually. DAT observed that these lower February TVI readings are not uncommon, due to February having fewer days.

January’s van freight TVI—at 223—was up 2.8% compared to December and also up 2.8% annually. The refrigerated TVI—at 174—was up 3.0% compared to December and up 3.6% annually. And the flatbed TVI—at 218—was up 10.7% compared to December and was up 12.4% annually.

Two leading logistics technology players—New York-based Transfix, a logistics technology services provider that streamlines shipment data to better help shippers make informed decisions to optimize time and revenues, and Austin, Texas-based e2open, a network-based provider of cloud-based, mission-critical, end-to-end supply chain management platform services—recently announced a partnership focused on offering shippers access to dynamic market rates and capacity.