Spot truckload freight volumes increased 4.5% last week, said DAT Freight & Analytics, which operates the industry’s largest network of load boards and the DAT iQ data analytics service.
Capacity tightened as the total number of trucks posted to the DAT network declined 4.7% compared to the previous week.
National average spot van, refrigerated and flatbed pricing changed marginally compared to the previous week. The typical bounce ahead of the close of the second quarter and July 4 holiday did not occur, although the average van rate is nearly 67 cents a mile higher year over year and the reefer and flatbed rates are 78 cents a mile higher. The following are the average spot rates for June, according to DAT:
Spot rates in van, reefer and flatbed were up 4.5% during the week ending June 27, according to DAT Freight & Analytics.
These are national average spot truckload rates for the month through June 27 and include a calculated fuel surcharge. The national average price of diesel was $3.30 per gallon last week, up 0.3% week over week.
Seasonality returned to the market last week as retailers and food distributors pushed to move freight ahead of July 4 celebrations. Shippers typically pre-position freight around the country during the last two weeks leading up to the holiday and use the spot market to move urgent or “exception” freight, as indicated in the 4.5% increase in load posts.
Dry van load-post volume was up 17% last week and the national average van load-to-truck ratio was 6.4, up from 5.2 the previous week. The load-to-truck ratio is a measure of the number of available loads on the DAT network relative to the number of available trucks and is a simple indicator of capacity supply and demand.
