DAT Rates & Ratios, Aug 4-10 2024

Last week’s lower volumes and flat rates showed a typical mid-August pattern for truck demand on the spot market

Last week’s lower volumes and flat rates showed a typical mid-August pattern for truck demand on the spot market. This week and next tend to be busier as shippers move goods out of distribution centers in advance of the Labor Day holiday.

Freight Trends from DAT One and DAT iQ
Spot market data for August 4-10, 2024 (Week 32)

Spot rates slipped on lower demand for trucks last week
The number of loads posted on DAT One tumbled by 12.8% to 1.66 million last week, which is down 9% year over year. Truck posts were 0.3% lower to 321,061. Compared to Week 32 in 2019 (pre-pandemic conditions), load posts were 15% higher last week and truck posts were down 17%.

Dry Vans
▼  Van loads: 816,810, down 12.6% week over week
▲  Van equipment: 211,405, up 0.2%
▼  Linehaul rate: $1.63 net fuel, down 1 cent week over week 
▼  Load-to-truck ratio: 3.9, down from 4.4

Reefers
▲  Reefer loads: 399,472, down 10.1% week over week
▼  Reefer equipment: 62,329, down 3.3%
—  Linehaul rate: $1.97 net fuel, unchanged
▼  Load-to-truck ratio: 6.4, down from 6.9

Flatbeds
▼  Flatbed loads: 559,343, down 5.6% week over week
▼  Flatbed equipment: 46,995, down 4.2%
▼  Linehaul rate: $1.99 net fuel, down 2 cents
▼  Load-to-truck ratio: 9.5, down from 11.4

Market Notes from Dean Croke, DAT Principal Analyst:

• DAT One’s Top 50 van lanes (based on the number of loads moved) averaged $2.00 a mile, down 2 cents week over week—37 cents higher than the overall national average.
• One reason for last week’s 10% decline in reefer load postings (18% lower year over year) is a decrease in produce shipments. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture reported that produce shipments are down 7% year over year nationally and down 18% year over year in California, the country’s biggest market for fresh produce.
• Reefer capacity is tight in Indiana and Illinois, where watermelon harvests are underway. Indiana typically produces the highest truckload tonnage volume at this time of year. Knox County, Indiana, accounts for roughly 70% of watermelon production in Southwest Indiana and Southeast Illinois—DAT’s Evansville freight market. Most refrigerated truckload volume is regional, and most produce loads head north to Chicago/Joliet markets and on longer hauls to Atlanta and Lakeland, Florida.
• Linehaul rates exclude an amount equal to a national average fuel surcharge.

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