BEAVERTON, Ore. — National average spot rates fell for the third straight week while load and truck posts on DAT One declined by 7% compared to the previous week.
“It’s earnings season for the big publicly traded contract carriers,” said Dean Croke, DAT iQ industry analyst “Last week, Heartland Express reported disappointing Q2 results with wider-than-expected losses and an operating ratio of 106%. Revenue was down 23.4% year over year. ArcBest, Old Dominion Freight Line, Werner Enterprises, Schneider National and Knight-Swift Transportation will follow this week. Fragile freight demand, high costs, poor utilization and a soft rate environment persist as significant headwinds.”
Despite a gradual decline, spot rates tracked seasonally and remained in line with those from the last two years. Dry van load and truck-post volumes were each nearly 8% higher than in week 30 of last year.
“At $1.65 per mile, last week’s national average dry van linehaul spot rate was 3 cents higher than it was at the same time last year,” Croke said. “The average rate for DAT’s top 50 van lanes by load volume decreased by 1 cent to $2.00 per mile, 35 cents higher than the national 7-day rolling average.”
Broker-to-Carrier 7-day Average Spot Rates
â–¼ Dry van: $2.02 per mile, down 1 cent week over week
â–¼ Refrigerated: $2.33 per mile, down 1 cent
â–¼ Flatbed: $2.43 per mile, down 1 cent
Dry Van
â–¼ Van loads: 952,482, down 6% week over week
â–¼ Van equipment: 952,482, down 6%
â–¼ Linehaul rate: $1.65 excluding fuel, down 1 cent
— Loads per truck: 6.1, virtually unchanged
Reefer
â–¼ Reefer loads: 434,353, down 19% week over week
â–¼ Reefer equipment: 43,184, down 12%
â–¼ Linehaul rate: $1.96 excluding fuel, down 2 cents
â–¼ Loads per truck: 10.1, down from 10.7.
“The reefer load-to-truck ratio was largely unchanged at 10.06, with reefer load posts down 20% and equipment posts 12% lower,” Croke said.
Flatbed
— Flatbed loads: 686,562, virtually unchanged week over week
â–¼ Flatbed equipment: 30,531, down 4%
â–¼ Linehaul rate: $2.06 net fuel, down 2 cents
â–² Loads per truck: 22.5, up from 21.6
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
