DAT: West Coast port markets driving spot truckload freight volumes
The number of available loads on the spot truckload freight market rose 0.3% during the week ending Aug. 1, said DAT Freight & Analytics, which operates the industry’s largest load board and the DAT iQ data analytics service.
The number of available trucks fell 1.2% compared to the previous week.
Truckload rates on the spot market typically drop after the July 4 holiday but were elevated all month, buoyed by demand in southern California and other port markets. July volumes declined compared to June, the busiest month on record: the number of available van, refrigerated, and flatbed loads on the DAT network fell 17.1% and capacity dropped 6.6%.
Trendlines
Dry van load-post volumes increased slightly and equipment posts remained flat, and the national average van load-to-truck ratio was virtually unchanged at 6.0. The average van rate was $2.73 per mile, matching the average for July. In DAT’s top 100 van freight markets by volume, the number of loads moved increased 2.5% last week.
West Coast port markets are driving demand for truckload services. Ships continue to bunch up outside the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, where about one-third of all container imports arrive. The average outbound van rate from Los Angeles was $3.70 per mile, and Los Angeles to Phoenix, a key lane for imported e-commerce freight, hit $4.61 a mile.
Los Angeles to Chicago averaged $3.13 per mile for spot van freight and the number of loads moved soared 39.9% in the last four weeks, DAT said. The ongoing chassis trailer shortage has been exacerbated by higher-than-normal container dwell times for local container delivery and intermodal rail cars to move containers east. All of this is contributing to higher spot market truckload volumes off the West Coast as shippers struggle with reduced intermodal capacity on freight lanes to congested inland destinations.
The number of reefer loads rose 4% while truck posts declined 1%. The national average reefer load-to-truck ratio inched up from 12.8 to 13.5 and the national average spot reefer rate rose 1.7% to an average of $3.15 per mile (rates include a fuel surcharge).
The national average spot flatbed rate held at $3.00 per mile, 11 cents less than the July average. Flatbed load-post volumes fell 2% week-over-week and are now down 4% over the last month. Capacity tightened with an 8% decrease in equipment posts compared to the previous week, which pushed the flatbed load-to-truck ratio higher from 44.6 to 47.4.
National average spot rates are derived from DAT RateView, a database of $110 billion in actual market transactions and 249 million freight matches each year.
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