While the rates for flatbed equipment have continued to decline, the decrease is only slightly larger than the previous week’s increase. Despite this, spot volume has shown promising growth, marking the strongest increase since April.

This news highlights the positive trajectory of the trucking industry and the potential for further growth in the coming weeks.

Available Loads

There was a 4% increase in total load activity this week, following a 1% decrease the previous week. Compared to the same week last year, volume was 25% lower, which is the smallest decline in over a year. Moving forward, year-over-year comparisons will be against a market that has largely recovered from the pandemic-related challenges. Load postings in the latest week were 23% below the five-year average. Volume increased week over week in all regions, except for the West Coast. Truck postings also fell by 5.6%, while the Market Demand Index, which measures the ratio of loads to trucks, reached its highest level since late June.

Total rates

The broker-posted rate increased by 3.4 cents, bouncing back from a small decline the previous week. This comes after nine consecutive weeks of falling market rates. Compared to the same week in 2022, rates were about 16% lower, marking the least negative year-over-year comparison since late last year. Additionally, rates were nearly 5% below the five-year average.

The biggest rate increase was seen in refrigerated equipment, suggesting that Yellow’s recent operational shutdown didn’t have a significant impact on the spot market. This is not surprising, as the spot market is primarily focused on truckload shipments rather than LTL service disruptions.

It’s also possible that higher fuel prices played a role in the increased rates. In the two weeks leading up to last week’s market, the national average price of diesel had risen by 32 cents per gallon.

Dry van

Dry van spot rates have experienced a significant increase of over 4 cents, following a slight decrease of just three-tenths of a cent in the previous week. Despite a four-week decline, dry van rates currently stand at nearly 15% lower than the same time last year and about 10% below the five-year average. It’s worth noting, however, that the year-over-year comparison in rates is showing the smallest negative change since August of last year. On the other hand, dry van loads have seen a slight uptick of 1.1% after a more substantial increase of over 2% in the previous week.

The Midwest has played a significant role in this growth, offsetting declines seen on the West Coast and in the South Central region. In terms of volume, we have observed a nearly 20% decrease compared to the same week in 2022 and roughly a 16% decrease compared to the five-year average. Interestingly, the year-over-year comparison shows the least negative change in over a year.

Reefer

Refrigerated spot rates saw a significant increase, jumping up by over 11 cents. This follows a rise of almost 4 cents in the previous week. Compared to the same week in 2022, rates were around 11% lower, which is the smallest year-over-year decrease since June 2022. Additionally, refrigerated rates were nearly 6% below the five-year average.

In terms of refrigerated loads, there was a substantial increase of 14.4%, building on the approximately 3% increase from the previous week. All regions experienced an uptick in loads, ranging from nearly 4% higher in the South Central region to about 20% higher in the Midwest.

Overall volume, however, was approximately 10% lower than the same week last year and about 8% below the five-year average for that week. Nevertheless, this year’s year-over-year comparison was the least negative since May 2022.

Flatbed

Flatbed spot rates fell by 1 cent, reversing a slight increase in the previous week. This marks the eighth decline in the past 10 weeks. Compared to the same week in 2022, rates were nearly 19% lower and more than 3% below the five-year average. It should, however, be noted that there was a 2.7% increase in flatbed loads following a 5.8% drop the week before. While the West Coast saw a significant decrease in loads, all other regions experienced an increase. Overall, volume was nearly 37% lower than the same week last year and almost 39% below the five-year average.

Source: The Trucker

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