No advanced education required to see that this year’s back-to-school demand has had very little impact on seasonal truckload volumes unlike we’ve seen over the past two years.
The contract market continues to take back spot market share as spot loads posted YoY fell 34% in July, and 26% MoM, while at the same time, trucks posted increase 8% from last July.
According to DAT, the cheapest van rates currently are originating out of the Northeast with an average rate-per-mile of $2.43.
On the flip side, some of the most expensive rates currently are coming out of the Midwest with an average of $2.73/mile.
Interestingly enough, factoring out fuel and the fact that the dollar has weakened about 16% since 2019, current linehaul rates, according to the National Truckload Index, are only about 6 cents higher than they were back in 2019.
Déjà vu for many carriers who have a heavy reliance on spot market freight to keep their wheels moving.
While bookings return to pre-pandemic norms, U.S. customs levels remain elevated for a number of reasons including: High sporadic dwell times at east coast ports, shippers and BCOs diverting from a vast west coast infrastructure to the east coast where ports are struggling to meet accelerated demand, a lack of warehouse capacity increasing container dwell times, AB5 concerns, and too many loitering empties.
This has been your Bridge Logistics Market Update for the week of Aug 8th, 2022.