Spot Rates Fall as Price of Diesel Dips Below $2

Spot-market load availability gained 0.8 percent during the week ending Feb. 13 while capacity added 1.2 percent, according to DAT Solutions, which operates the DAT network of load boards.

The number of van load posts declined 6 percent last week while truck posts increased 1 percent compared to the previous week. The van load-to-truck ratio fell 6 percent from 1.4 to 1.3 loads per truck, meaning there were 1.3 van loads for every truck posted on the DAT network. The national average van rate dropped 4 cents last week to $1.58 per mile.

Reefer load volume lost 7 percent and truck posts added 3 percent last week. As a result, the reefer load-to-truck ratio fell 9 percent from 3.4 to 3.1 loads per truck. The national average reefer rate held steady at $1.85 per mile. Flatbed load volume was up 10 percent while capacity increased less than 1 percent. Despite a 10 percent increase in the flatbed load-to-truck ratio (from 8.7 to 9.6 loads per truck), the national average flatbed rate fell 2 cents last week to $1.83 per mile.

Source: DAT