Van load posts on DAT load boards slowed by 22 percent, and truck posts declined 33 percent, during the Christmas holiday week, DAT says. A 20 percent decline in load board activity overall can be attributed to the short week.
Last-minute demand and severe weather also contributed to an increase in the load-to-truck ratio, from 1.6 to 1.9 loads per truck. Loads were readily available, and trucks are relatively scarce, in a handful of Hot Markets, including Twin Falls, Idaho; Bismarck, N.D.; Des Moines, Iowa, and Rock Island, Ill.; Hutchinson, Kan., and Kansas City and Joplin, Mo.; Memphis, Tenn.; Columbia, S.C.; and pretty much all of Alabama.
A shortage of trucks yielded high load-to-truck ratios that also turned the map red in Wyoming, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Maine, despite lower freight volume.
The national average rate held steady for vans last week at $1.71 per mile, despite a cent decline in the fuel surcharge. Outbound rates increased for van loads originating in Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta and Philadelphia but declined in Los Angeles, Memphis and Buffalo. Rates were affected by weather as well as last-minute freight shipments in the days before Christmas.
