Tag: rates: Page 32

Flatbed volume growing in Southeast — rates still lag

While Spring might be coming a little early for flatbeds in the Southeast with freight volume and demand indicators rising, rates continued to move lower in the last week of February.

March 3, 2016

Flatbed load-to-truck ratios, a demand indicator that favors truckers when the ratio is high, have been rising throughout February. Nationally, the ratio ended the month at 12.6 loads per truck. Mild winter weather gives the flatbed freight season an early start. Demand has been especially strong in the Southeast, although declining steel shipments led to a reduction in flatbed freight volume coming out of Birmingham, Ala. Outbound volume was also down in Cleveland, Ohio, due to steel’s slump, but Pittsburgh, Pa., was up for the month.

Van spot market: Demand ticked up in the last week

Last week saw van demand rebound from the winter doldrums slightly last week, with the average load-to-truck ratio moving up to 1.4 loads per truck.

February 25, 2016

“Parts of Texas are looking good,” noted DAT’s Mark Montague. “What’s not consists of Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio, all of which had load-trucks ratios below 1.0 on Tuesday. West Texas has good load availability, and Houston, surprisingly, is on the edge of tight. Laredo is another market that looks strong this week. Lastly, Texarkana is another pocket of strong demand.

Overdrive Extra

Diesel’s roller-coaster ride: The thrill is gone, but not for all

Now that fuel surcharges are more entrenched, the plunge to below $2 a gallon after about three years in the $4 range has generated much less notice than similar price swings in prior years — though that’s not a blanket truth for everyone.

February 23, 2016

Fuel surcharges have largely gutted the downside impacts of diesel price volatility, but not for all operators.

February on the spot market: The good, the bad and the ugly

“We’d like nothing more than for March to come in like a lion, and go out like a pack of lions,” noted Ken Harper attendant to this week’s spot market update from the DAT network of load boards. “But we have to get through February first.”

February 18, 2016

The national average van rate slipped to $1.58 per mile last week, including fuel, which has been falling about a cent a mile for several weeks now. New seasonal demand in March typically leads to a bump in prices. At the risk of stating the obvious, for many carriers March can’t get here soon enough.

Dinner options and falling surcharges

“Ahhh, the good old days.” –one operator’s suggestion for a caption to this photo showing $4 diesel in 2011. Sarcasm? Could be — amazing, though, how a falling fuel surcharge can expose an inadequate base rate, isn’t it?

February 11, 2016

Reefer, van spot market update: Rates ‘may have finally bottomed out’

Weekly spot market update for first week of February, the slowest month on DAT’s load boards, shows reefer lulls in the very-low-demand Pacific Northwest, as well as Florida and Georgia. Southern-border reefer activity is beating California, too.

February 11, 2016

Reefer rates fell another 3 cents to a national average of $1.85 per mile last week, including a 1¢ decline in the average fuel surcharge. Rates rose for hauls originating in Sacramento, Calif.; Nogales, Ariz.; Dallas; and Lakeland, Fla., but outbound rates fell sharply for reefers in Green Bay, Wis., where they remained on average higher than more Southern origin points, and Elizabeth, N.J. For more on what’s happening with reefer rates, read Matt Sullivan’s analysis this week at this link.

Spot market rates update: Van, flatbed sink in January while reefer sees small gain

Spot market rate averages in all three major truckload segments compiled from January transaction data.

February 9, 2016

Driver shortage: Readers weigh in on turnover, rates, pay, working conditions and more

What’s your view? Respondents to recent polling expressed widely different views about a driver shortage. About half of readers consider it real, while the other half view it as myth or primarily a misnomer for other things, low pay chief among them.

February 8, 2016

Further responses from a bevy of readers to our February cover story on the driver-shortage subject follow. What’s your take on the SFD? If you’re reading on a smartphone, tap the image to call and leave us a message to weigh in. We’ll round up responses in a special mailbag podcast. Alternately, drop a comment below. If you’re on a desktop, call 530-408-6423. Make sure to tell us your name and state of residence.

Framing the trucking labor situation: Shortage at what price?

“Labor shortage” can mean different things to different people, whether a supply/demand imbalance at “current market prices” or “at any price” — the latter often well implied in driver shortage stories that suggest a disruption to the supply chain that consumers will see and feel.

February 3, 2016

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Overdrive Extra

One carrier’s work-around for the driver shortage

Landstar’s low turnover rate shows that strong earnings potential for drivers can soften a labor shortage by retaining solid operators.

February 2, 2016

The driver shortage alarm

The disconnect between the money and the mantra: As trucking has trumpeted a driver shortage over most of the last 10 years driver pay hasn’t risen in a way that would reflect such a strong labor demand.

February 1, 2016

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The winter blues: This week’s spot freight, rates update

Demand fell nationally for vans, but it’s likely to heat up with better weather in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions this week as the area digs out from under 2 to 3 feet of snow. …

January 28, 2016

Van rates fell another 3 cents to a national average of $1.65 per mile last week, including a 1 cent decline in the average fuel surcharge. Pent-up demand may drive rates up on the East Coast this week.

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