DAT reveals more US loads and capacity

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Beaverton, Ore. — After the US took its annual Thanksgiving break, the nation got right back to business, resulting in both increased loads and capacity.

According to DAT Solutions, for the week ending December 6, the number of loads posted to the DAT load boards increased 20%. Similarly, capacity was also up 11% in the same time period.

The US national average van rate was also up that week, increasing 5 cents to US$2.10 per mile, and that’s in spit of a 1-cent decrease in the fuel surcharge. Flatbed load rates were up 2 cent, on average, to US$2.33 per mile, and the refrigerated rate jumped 4 cents to US$2.41.

Regionally, however some areas experienced decreases rather than increases. The average van rate dropped 12 cents to US$2.46 per mile. Other falling rate markets included Buffalo (down 16 cents to US$2.16), Memphis (down 5 cents to US$2.39), Dallas (down 6 cents to US$1.81) and Chicago (down 12 cents to US$2.32). One route to note was Los Angeles to Denver, which saw a 22-cent spike up to $3.37 per mile.

Van freight availability was up 9.6% for the week while available van capacity increased 7.6%. The national average load-to-truck ratio for vans increased 1.8%, from 4.4 to 4.5 loads per truck. That means there were 4.5 van loads posted for every van on DAT load boards last week.

A 17% increase in demand for reefer capacity on the spot market, coupled with a 7.7% capacity increase, moved the refrigerated load-to-truck ratio up 8.9% from 11.6 to 12.6 loads per truck.

Flatbed load availability increased 40% after a 28% decline during the Thanksgiving week. The number of available trucks increased 28%, which pushed the load-to-truck ratio up 8.9% to 18.2 loads per truck as a national average.

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