Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Truckload freight volumes and contract prices stayed high in March despite expensive gas

Spot market prices dipped for the month but are still high historically, ATA and DAT say.

American_Trucking_Associations_For_Hire_Truck_Tonnage_Index.jpeg

Although freight rates on the spot market dropped slightly from their historic highs last month, truckload freight volumes and contract prices soared to record levels, new statistics show.

By one measure, the nation’s trucking freight volumes rose 2.4% in March after rising 0.7% in February, according to the American Trucking Associations' seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index. Measured against a threshold of 100 set in 2015, the index equaled 118.8 in March versus 116.1 in February.


“During the first quarter, the index rose 2.4% from the final quarter of 2021 and increased 2.6% from a year earlier. While there might be some recent softness in the spot market, for-hire contract freight tonnage remains sold and is only limited by lack of capacity, both drivers and equipment," ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a release.

 By ATA’s count, contract freight was solid in March, posting its largest monthly gain since May 2020 and marking its eighth straight month-to-month improvement, Costello found.

Those trends ran parallel to another measure of freight activity in March, as truckload freight marketplace operator DAT Freight & Analytics said that weaker spot market rates and skyrocketing fuel costs for the month overshadowed an increase in stronger truckload freight volumes and record-high prices for loads moving under contract.

Those factors hit small trucking companies and independent operators hard, as they saw significantly higher operating costs and lower revenues than they’ve become accustomed to over the past couple of years, Ken Adamo, DAT’s chief of analytics, said in a release.

“What made March unique is that shippers paid historically high prices to ensure that more of their loads moved under a longer-term contract, reducing their need for trucks on the spot market and causing rates to soften,” Adamo said. “At the same time, carriers’ operating costs increased because of higher fuel prices. As a national average, fuel cost $1.07 per gallon more in March compared to February and $1.95 a gallon [more] year over year.” 

DAT measured those market variables with its Truckload Volume Index (TVI), which for dry van freight was 305, up 23% compared to February; the refrigerated TVI was 206, a 13% increase, and the flatbed TVI was 247, up 24% month over month.

The index also highlighted the difference between the contract market and spot truckload rates, which are negotiated as one-time transactions between a freight broker and carrier.

By cost, the price to move van freight under contract increased 19 cents in March to $3.28 per mile as a national average, eclipsing the previous high set in February. The average contract reefer rate was $3.45 a mile, up 20 cents, while the flatbed rate gained 24 cents to $3.69 a mile. 

However, spot market prices tumbled, as the national average van rate fell to $3.06 per mile, down 3 cents compared to February, while the spot reefer rate was $3.44 per mile, down 9 cents. The flatbed rate was $3.45 per mile, up 26 cents month over month and a new record.

Still, spot rates remain well above year-ago levels: in March 2021, the national average van rate was just $2.67 per mile, the reefer rate was $2.95 a mile, and the flatbed rate was $2.78 a mile, DAT said.

The Latest

More Stories

Stampin’ Up!’s Riverton, Utah, distribution center

Stampin’ Up!’s Riverton, Utah, distribution center

Picking reimagined

What happens when your warehouse technology upgrade turns into a complete process overhaul? That may sound like a headache to some, but for leaders at paper crafting company Stampin’ Up! it’s been a golden opportunity—especially when it comes to boosting productivity. The Utah-based direct marketing company has increased its average pick rate by more than 70% in the past year and a half. And it’s all due to a warehouse management system (WMS) implementation that opened the door to process changes and new technologies that are speeding its high-velocity, high-SKU (stock-keeping unit) order fulfillment operations.

The bottom line: Stampin’ Up! is filling orders faster than ever before, with less manpower, since it shifted to an easy-to-use voice picking system that makes adapting to seasonal product changes and promotions a piece of cake. Here’s how.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

autostore AS/RS at toyota materal handling site

New AutoStore AS/RS at Toyota Material Handling’s DC will increase parts volume and fulfillment speed

With its new AutoStore automated storage and retrieval (AS/RS) system, Toyota Material Handling Inc.’s parts distribution center, located at its U.S. headquarters campus in Columbus, Indiana, will be able to store more forklift and other parts and move them more quickly. The new system represents a major step toward achieving TMH’s goal of next-day parts delivery to 98% of its customers in the U.S. and Canada by 2030, said TMH North America President and CEO Brett Wood at the launch event on October 28. The upgrade to the DC was designed, built, and installed through a close collaboration between TMH, AutoStore, and Bastian Solutions, the Toyota-owned material handling automation designer and systems integrator that is a cornerstone of the forklift maker’s Toyota Automated Logistics business unit. The AS/RS is Bastian’s 100th AutoStore installation in North America.

TMH’s AutoStore system deploys 28 energy-efficient robotic shuttles to retrieve and deliver totes from within a vertical storage grid. To expedite processing, artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced software determines optimal storage locations based on whether parts are high- or low-demand items. The shuttles, each independently controlled and selected based on shortest distance to the stored tote, swiftly deliver the ordered parts to four picking ports. Each port can process up to 175 totes per hour; the company’s initial goal is 150 totes per hour, with room to grow. The AS/RS also eliminates the need for order pickers to walk up to 10 miles per day, saving time, boosting picking accuracy, and improving ergonomics for associates.

Keep ReadingShow less
nimble smart robots for fedex

FedEx picks Nimble for fulfillment automation

Parcel giant FedEx Corp. is automating its fulfillment flows by investing in the AI robotics and autonomous e-commerce fulfillment technology firm Nimble, and announcing plans to use the San Francisco-based startup’s tech in its own returns network.

The size of FedEx’s investment wasn’t disclosed, but the company was the lead investor of Nimble’s $106 million “series C” funding round, announced last week. The round was co-led by existing shareholder Cedar Pine LLC.

Keep ReadingShow less

Logistics gives back: October 2024

For the past seven years, third-party service provider ODW Logistics has provided logistics support for the Pelotonia Ride Weekend, a campaign to raise funds for cancer research at The Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. As in the past, ODW provided inventory management services and transportation for the riders’ bicycles at this year’s event. In all, some 7,000 riders and 3,000 volunteers participated in the ride weekend.


Keep ReadingShow less

Resilience is a daily fight

I recently came across a report showing that 86% of CEOs around the world see resiliency problems in their supply chains, and that business leaders are spending more time than ever tackling supply chain-related challenges. Initially I was surprised, thinking that the lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic surely prepared industry leaders for just about anything, helping to bake risk and resiliency planning into corporate strategies for companies of all sizes.

But then I thought about the growing number of issues that can affect supply chains today—more frequent severe weather events, accelerating cybersecurity threats, and the tangle of emerging demands and regulations around decarbonization, to name just a few. The level of potential problems seems to be increasing at lightning speed, making it difficult, if not impossible, to plan for every imaginable scenario.

Keep ReadingShow less