TORONTO, Ont. —TransCore‘s Canadian Spot Market Freight Index had a record-breaking year with the highest annual volume over the last decade.  

As the transport year wound down, however,  December experienced  a 4 percent drop year-over-year and a 14 percent decline from November levels.   Despite the decline in the final month,  fourth-quarter freight was the highest since 2005.  An influx of shipments earlier in the quarter also resulted in an overall increase of 10 percent compared to the previous year. 

Capacity was 7 percent below recorded levels for December 2011 while the equipment-to-loads ratio increased slightly for the third consecutive month.  Available equipment in December was down 11 percent from the prior month.  The top three equipment types for December were:

• Dry Van 54 percent
• Reefer 18 percent
• Flatbed 17 percent

Cross-border load and truck postings for December accounted for approximately 70 percent of the data submitted by Loadlink’s Canadian-based customers, with the balance posted within Canada.  

TransCore’s Loadlink freight matching database constitutes the largest Canadian network of carriers, owner operators, freight brokers and intermediaries and has been available to Canadian subscribers since its inception in 1990.

Over 13 million full loads, LTL (less than truck load) shipments and trucks are posted to the Loadlink network annually. As a result of this high volume, TransCore believes its Canadian Freight Index is representative of the ups and downs in spot market freight movement and provides a historical account of the domestic and cross border spot market freight movement.