BEAVERTON, Ore. — While national average spot van and refrigerated truckload rates continued to decline during the week of Feb. 22-28, the flatbed market held strong, with loads up 10%, equipment down 10%, and rates up.
“The total number of loads posted to the DAT One marketplace rebounded last week, increasing 6% to 3.4 million,” DAT said. “Truck posts dipped to 218,916, a 10-year low for week 9.”
Diesel Price Concerns
“War in the Middle East is a significant cost-risk for carriers without fuel hedging or long-term contracts,” said Dean Croke, industry analyst, DAT Freight & Analytics. “Crude oil prices responded quickly. West Texas Intermediate crude was trading around $72 a barrel as of Sunday, March 1, up about 8% from $67 on Friday. Crude oil price changes typically hit retail diesel within one to two weeks. Fuel prices were already trending higher. At $3.81 per gallon, the national average price of on-highway diesel has increased 18 cents since the week ending Jan. 27.”
Broker-to-Carrier 7-Day Average Spot Rates
â–¼ Dry van: $2.39 per mile, down 1 cent week over week
â–¼ Refrigerated: $2.78 per mile, down 5 cents
â–² Flatbed: $2.66 per mile, up 3 cents
Dry Van: Load Posts Recover
â–² Van loads: 1.34 million, up 2% week over week
— Van equipment: 161,766, virtually unchanged
â–¼ Linehaul rate: $2.04 per mile, down 2 cents
â–² Load-to-truck ratio: 8.6, up from 8.4
Reefer: Equipment Availability Tightens
â–² Reefer loads: 582,118, up 4% week over week
â–¼ Reefer equipment: 36,947, down 7%
â–¼ Linehaul rate: $2.46 per mile, down 7 cents
â–² Load-to-truck ratio: 15.8, up from 14.1
“Mother Nature is reshaping the produce freight map, as damaged crop supply is altering seasonal freight opportunities,” Croke said. “In California, produce volumes were down 14% week-over-week and are nearly 30% lower year to date, according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. The physical damage is expected to affect yields through spring and summer. In Florida, fruit and vegetable produce volume is 30% lower year to date, with up to 80% of the remaining strawberry harvests and roughly 90% of the remaining blueberry crop affected by freezing temperatures.”
Flatbed: Momentum Continues
â–² Flatbed loads: 1.4 million, up 10% week over week
â–¼ Flatbed equipment: 20,203, down 10%
â–² Linehaul rate: $2.26 per mile, up 2 cents
â–² Load-to-truck ratio: 70.3, up from 57.5
“At $2.26 per mile, the national average spot flatbed rate was 28 cents higher year over year and 15 cents more than the same week in 2018,” Croke said. “Load posts were driven by strong end-of-month shipping volumes and tighter capacity. Despite tariff-driven cost inflation on steel and heavy equipment and sluggish single-family housing starts, the data center construction wave is one of the strongest signals in the flatbed freight market. Regionally, Northern Virginia continues to dominate, with Georgia and Texas following. Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, California, Oregon, Utah, and Arizona are also seeing significant data-center construction activity.”
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.
