U.S. Truck Freight Rate Decline
The first-quarter of 2016 freight volumes were down 3 % year-over-year. Shipper procurement dropped 1.4 percent in January and 5.1% in February. The 7 % drop in March reflects weaker spot and contract rates.
A decline in available freight and an increase in truck capacity pushed spot truckload rates down across all three equipment types, according to DAT Solutions and its network of load boards.
The number of trucks posted increased 4.5% while the number of available loads fell 6.4% compared to the previous week. However, demand was up in major markets, a signal that spot rates may soon rebound.
Canada Truck Volume Experiences a Month-Over-Month Improvement
The spot freight market north of the border is building up momentum in the first quarter of the year according to TransCore’s Canadian Freight Index.
TransCore Link Logistics volumes for Canadian and cross-border loads gained traction in March. Compared to February, volumes are up 17%, a sign of improvement for carriers using the Loadlink platform. The largest month-over-month increase in more than two years, according to the company. However, year-over-year volumes fell 17% compared to March 2015 Statistics.
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“The first quarter of 2016 ended strong with load volumes increasing for three consecutive months,” the company said. “This trend of greater than two sequential increases month-over-month has not been seen for more than 24 months. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2015, volumes increased 14% for quarter one of 2016, and was down 22% compared to the same period last year.”
Domestic volumes represented 27% of the total volumes and were similar to last year’s level, down only 1%.
Cross-border loads averaged 69% of the total data submitted by Loadlink’s Canadian-based customers. Southbound traffic fell by 14% and Northbound decreased 26% year-over-year.
Posted equipment increased 5% month-over-month and these postings were above February 2015 totals by 23%. The equipment-to-load ratio decreased to 3.05 to 1 from 3.42 to 1 in February. Year-over-year, this ratio increased from 1.95 to 1 in March 2015, representing a 56% change.
TransCore’s Canadian Freight Index measures the movement of freight and equipment from roughly 5,500 of Canada’s trucking companies and freight brokers, and includes all domestic, cross-border and interstate data submitted by Loadlink’s customers.
