Freight volumes rise 2.2% for June 2013

Spot market freight volumes reported by the DAT North American Freight Index rose 2.2% in June 2013 compared with May results. The month-over-month increase fell slightly short of seasonal norms. While freight volume increased from May to June in eight of the past 10 years, the average increase was 10%.

Freight availability climbed 1.8% in June for both vans and flatbeds versus May, but only 0.6% for refrigerated (reefer) trailers. Compared with the record volume of June 2012, however, freight availability declined 9.5%. Volume dropped 9.5% for vans and 6.8% for flatbeds, but reefer load availability was up 3.9% year-over-year.

Spot market rates were up 4.5% for vans in June compared with May, flatbed rates edged up 0.6%, and reefer rates advanced 6.0%. On a year-over-year basis, van rates declined 2.1% and flatbeds dropped 8.3% from the extremely high pricing levels of June 2012 in that segment. Reefer rates gained only 0.6% in June versus June 2012. Additional trend information and analysis is available at DAT Trendlines or the DAT blog.

Rates are derived from DAT RateView, which is based on $18 billion of actual transactions paid by brokers, 3PLs (third-party logistics providers), and shippers to carriers. Reference rates are for linehaul only, excluding fuel surcharges, which were unchanged in June on a month-over-month basis, but declined 2.0% from June 2012 levels.

The monthly DAT North American Freight Index reflects spot market freight availability on the TransCore DAT network of load boards in the United States and Canada.

A unit of TransCore, DAT is a freight marketplace platform and information provider. Through its services, DAT 3sixty and TruckersEdge load boards and DAT RateView, the company hosts more than 90 million spot load and truck listings. It compiles $18 billion of transacted shipment data annually, as well as automated carrier safety and insurance monitoring through DAT CarrierWatch.

Access www.dat.com for complete information.