Transportation Trends: December 13 2022

TLI's Weekly Transportation Trends

As we head into the Christmas/New Year Holiday, please be sure to communicate your company’s/vendor’s holiday hours. The holidays fall over the weekend this year, however, carriers may take off subsequential days to give employees time off to spend with family for the holidays. Plan ahead and plan accordingly!

The rail strike has been officially averted as Congress and President Joe Biden signed legislation to require Unions to agree to the labor agreement presented in September. While the major strike was averted, the rail industry still looks to make changes at a local level for employees. This is an area to keep an eye on in the future.

Weekly spot rates dropped last week after following a higher first week of December. Load-to-Truck ratios were at 4.46 for Dry Van equipment the week of November 28th, while the week of December 5th showed a 2.77 national average. The higher average on November 28th was speculated to be from the left over from the early holiday week before.

There is still a gap between contracted and spot market freight. The chart of the week shows this gap. Experts are predicting the gap to close into the next year as shippers start to push more freight into a weaker spot market, but for now spot rates are lower than contracted rates. 

Our team has noticed carriers becoming less selective on freight as volumes trend downward. In the past two years, carriers were more inclined to skip on unattractive freight as their networks were full. However, if the freight helps fill out a specific lane, they will be more open to accepting the freight. They are still focusing on dock-to-dock operations as preference.

LTL carriers are continually working through capacity issues on a terminal, shipment, and day-to-day basis. Weekly updates/directions are given by carriers to help alleviate their terminal which may include: freight embargos, dimension/quantity restrictions, and transit delays. TLI is actively monitoring these situations and will update any affected customer with solutions.

TLI is actively monitoring situations in the industry, such as acquisitions, embargos, and other industry disruptions. If a TLI client is directly affected by any of these events, your TLI representatives will reach out to discuss what this means for your account.

TLI highly suggests that on all shipments you provide our team with the “Must Arrive by Date” (MABD) as to when you need the product delivered. This will help us select the proper transit time / equipment type at the best current freight rate.

Please contact your Translogistics team at 610-280-3210 for any further questions. 

*article written by Mitchell Kinek, Sales/Marketing Executive, Translogistics. Any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out!

Chart provided by DAT.