Canadian spot market load volumes outgrow equipment volumes in February

by Sonia Straface

TORONTO – TransCore Link Logistics’ Canadian spot market continued its upward trend with a significant 20% increase in daily freight availability in February compared to January.

Total truck volumes declined month–over-month, and average daily postings were relatively flat in February. The number of load postings on the last day of February were the highest Loadlink has recorded since July 2018.

Month-over-month, February’s load volumes finished 4% higher than January, although these numbers were down 35% year-over-year.

Intra-Canada loads accounted for 32% of the total volumes. Load postings within Canada increased 23% compared to January and were down just 4% year-over-year.

Cross-border load postings represented 67% of the data submitted by Loadlink users.

There was a slight decline in cross-border load postings in February, mainly due to fewer loads entering Ontario and Quebec from the United States.

Loads leaving Canada to the U.S. increased 21%,  while loads entering Canada from the U.S. dropped 12%. Loads from the U.S. entering Ontario decreased 16%, while loads entering Quebec decreased 22%. Overall, cross-border load postings on Loadlink decreased 3% from January. This suggests the overall 4% increase in load postings was due to the significant increase in intra-Canadian activity.

Equipment performance

February equipment numbers saw a 12% dip due to the shortened month; however, the daily average number of truck postings increased by one percentage point. Compared to February 2018, equipment volumes were up 65% year-over-year.

Truck-to-Load ratio

This disparity in growth between load and truck availability pushed capacity downwards by 16% from 2.54 to 2.14. Year-over-year, the average ratio increased 153% from 0.85 in February 2018.


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