Due to fewer loads available and increasing truck capacity, rates on the spot freight market continued falling the past week.
From Jan. 18 through Jan. 24 flatbeds posted the biggest decline, compared to the previous week. This decline caused them to shed 1.8%, for an average of $2.21 per mile. A decline in the line haul portion of the rate caused about three quarters of this drop, while the rest was due to a lower fuel surcharge. This is compared to a rate of $2.31 per mile for the seven-day period ending Jan. 3.
Vans fell 1% for an average of $1.96 per mile, 11 cents less than three weeks earlier, while reefers declined 0.9% to $2.27 per mile, which is also 11 cents less than three weeks ago. Both drops were evenly split between declines in the line haul and fuel surcharge portions of the rate.
The falloff in available loads and increased truck capacity, resulted in lower load-to-truck ratios in all three sectors, each declining around 30%.
At its lowest level since November 2013, vans fell to 2.2 loads per truck while the flatbed ratio fell to 10 loads per truck. The reefer ratio dropped to 6.9 loads per truck.
Last winter a powerful snowstorm in the area had a big impact on truckload freight. Looking ahead it will be interesting to see how much this week’s blizzard in parts of the Northeast may push rates higher.
