NTIDL.USA — $1.90 : National Truck Load Index Daily (spot rates excluding fuel)
VCRPM1.USA — $2.81 : Van Contract Rate per mile with fuel
RCRPM1.USA – $2.46 : Reefer Contract Rate per mile with fuel
The big news is a 3-cent move in Reefer Contract Rates! It’s almost enough to bore you to tears or even pickleball!
OK, let’s not get crazy here.
Now is the time you need to watch the daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, and year-over-year trends. Understanding where the freight and rates are going and why is essential.
The SONAR 3D map below is showing the changes in market share over the past week. This gives you a perspective on where the freight markets are growing relative to the rest of the country. Things are certainly changing.
Cleveland; Philly; Houston; Memphis, Tennessee; Joliet, Illinois; and Lexington, Kentucky, are the hot spots.
The map is showing market share in both color and elevation to make it as clear as possible. Once you get over the fancy bells and whistles, it’s all about the data.
Even Ontario, California, and Lakeland, Florida, were in decent growth mode.
However, this next map will give us a great picture of where shippers are getting squeezed.
The SONAR map above is showing outbound tender rejections in both color and elevation. Mobile, Alabama, and Erie, Pennsylvania, are showing the greatest tightening over the past week.
With Philly; Cleveland; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Joliet; Buffalo, New York; Columbus, Ohio; and even Lexington all showing blue and elevated in the first map, it is no wonder that Erie is getting sucked dry of all capacity.
Hint: Your market and vertical is not insulated.
The SONAR Most Volatile Markets Table only displays those markets that have significant fluctuations outside the normal for the specified market.
Two of the markets we mentioned earlier are on this table as showing significant increases in tender volumes and changes in overall market conditions.
Zeroing in on Lexington and Philly, we see that neither is showing an increase in tender rejections as of yet. They will, trust me.
Both markets have strong increases in outbound volumes causing a moderate to strong change in the Headhaul index. This means more capacity is leaving than entering the market.
My choice for which market is better for a carrier and more worrisome for a shipper is …
Lexington, Kentucky.
The SONAR Market Table above provides all the information you need to understand why a market is good or bad, regardless of your perspective.
LEX — Lexington is showing inbound volumes dropping and inbound rejections increasing. This means fewer loads and fewer carriers accepting those loads.
The inbound situation coupled with the outbound growth of 12.3% results in a Haul index increase of 73% and a jump in rejections by 25% overnight.
Oh, one last thing. See EWR two rows above LEX? That is Elizabeth, New Jersey, with decreasing market share, outbound, and rejections.
This market is feeding Philly with capacity.
Stay informed! Stay safe! Get paid!
Peace and love.
