{"id":1403,"date":"2017-07-26T15:00:15","date_gmt":"2017-07-26T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/midatlanticfreightgroup.com\/?p=1403"},"modified":"2017-07-26T15:00:15","modified_gmt":"2017-07-26T15:00:15","slug":"van-rates-are-going-up-but-slowly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/midatlanticfreightgroup.com\/?p=1403","title":{"rendered":"Van Rates Are Going Up, But Slowly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Competition with railroads, plus extra trucks on the spot market, kept rates in check most of the year. But last week, the national\u00a0<\/span>van load-to-truck ratio<\/a>\u00a0hit 3.7 loads per truck. That’s the highest it’s been since early January. The reefer load-to-truck ratio was also the highest since January. That helps vans, since those reefer trucks are busy when they might otherwise have competed for van freight. So we can expect conditions to improve for vans.<\/p>\n

Van rates continued to trend up last week, in fact, but it’s a slow and steady trend. The\u00a0national average added 1\u00a2<\/a>\u00a0to $1.69\/mile, while prices rose on 55 of the top 100 van lanes. That’s compared to just 30 lanes that paid less than the previous week. (The other 15 were unchanged.)<\/p>\n

A quick note about load-to-truck ratios:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>These should be viewed as more of a barometer than a thermometer. When there are 3.7 van load posts per truck post, the important part of the story is not the number itself but whether it moves up or down from one week to the next, or one market to the next. The ratio is useful as a pressure gauge, to see if demand for trucks is going up or down in a specific place or time. Whichever way the ratio goes, rates often follow.<\/p>\n

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\nDarker-colored states have higher load-to-truck ratios, meaning that there’s less competition for van loads in those states.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Dallas\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong>and\u00a0<\/span>Denver<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>had a lot more loads available last week. The whole state of\u00a0<\/span>Texas<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>has been hot for spot market freight. Half of the top 6 markets for\u00a0<\/span>van load posts on DAT TruckersEdge<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>last week were in Texas:<\/p>\n

Top Six Markets for Load Posts, May 14 – 20<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Atlanta
\n2. Houston
\n3. Charlotte
\n4. Dallas
\n5. Lakeland, FL
\n6. Laredo, TX<\/p>\n

Philadelphia<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0and nearby\u00a0<\/span>Allentown, PA<\/span><\/strong>, both had more loads last week, but rates moved in opposite directions \u2013 down in Philly, up in Allentown.<\/p>\n

All rates below are based on real transactions between brokers and carriers. Lane rates are available in\u00a0<\/span><\/span>TruckersEdge Enhanced<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

RISING<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Outbound rates from\u00a0Chicago<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0continued to lag, but one exception was the lane\u00a0<\/span>to Buffalo<\/strong><\/span>. It\u2019s a relatively low-volume lane, but it happened to have the biggest jump in price last week: Up ?16\u00a2 to $2.31\/mile<\/p>\n

Rates on the lane from\u00a0<\/span>Atlanta to Philadelphia<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0rose ?14\u00a2 to an average of $2.30\/mile<\/p>\n

Denver had the biggest increase in volumes last week, and rates also rose on some major inbound lanes. For example, the lane from\u00a0<\/span>Stockton, CA, to Denve<\/strong><\/span>r paid ?12\u00a2 better at $2.03\/mile<\/p>\n

FALLING<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Most declines were small, with a few exceptions:<\/p>\n