Canadian spot market load volumes on the Loadlink platform decreased 14% in April, or 5% when considering the number of business days between March and April. That reflects normal seasonal movements.

But loads were up an unprecedented 120% year-over-year, reflecting the impact Covid-19 had on freight volumes last April. Loadlink Technologies reports load volumes in the first week of April fell 15% from the final week of March, as new economic shutdown measures were put into place in some regions.

Volumes increased in the following two weeks, with the final week in April marking the best of the month and representing the highest single week load volume total since the start of the pandemic.

Outbound cross-border loads were down 16% from March, while northbound cross-border loads dropped 20%.

Domestic activity remained unchanged in April. Western Canada was the only region not to see an increase in domestic outbound freight, while Atlantic Canada and Quebec saw the largest gains of 26% and 17%, respectively.

Domestic inbound loads to Western Canada grew 1%, with all other regions seeing less freight.

The truck-to-load ratio increased by 15%, at 2.60 compared to 2.27 trucks per load in March. Average daily truck postings were up 8% from March, while average load postings fell 5%. Last April, there were 5.64 trucks posted per load.