Spot Load Volume Drops 11%, Prices Fall

After a surge to close out September, the number of posted loads on the spot truckload market dropped 11% during the week ending Oct. 10, reports DAT Solutions.

Available capacity increased 3.7% compared to the previous week, which helped push spot truckload rates down across all three equipment types.

The national average truckload van spot market rate slipped 1 cent to $1.73 per mile, with prices lower across several key markets. Los Angeles ($1.99 per mile, down a penny), Chicago ($1.97, off 5 cents), Dallas ($1.58, down 6 cents), and Buffalo ($1.95, down 6 cents) all showed losses for the week despite having higher average prices in their regions.

Van load availability fell 15% while truck capacity jumped 5.6% compared to the previous week. The national van load-to-truck ratio declined 19% to 1.6 loads per truck, meaning there were 1.6 available van loads for every truck posted on the DAT network.

Refrigerated load availability fell 13% while available capacity increased 2.1%. The national reefer load-to-truck ratio fell 15% to 3.9 loads per truck, contributing to a 5-cent drop in the national average reefer rate to $1.96 per mile.   The average outbound rates from Los Angeles fell 6 cents to $2.46 per mile; Lakeland, Fla., dropped 12 cents to $1.24; and Philadelphia slid 8 cents to $2.54.

Flatbed load availability fell 8.9% and truck posts were down 1.1%, resulting in a 7.9% decline in the flatbed load-to-truck ratio to 10.6 loads per truck.   The national average flatbed rate was 2 cents lower at $2.01 per mile.  The national average price of diesel rose 1 cent to $2.49 per gallon last week. All reported rates include fuel surcharges.

Category: Featured, General Update