TORONTO, Ont. — Volumes on Loadlink’s Canadian spot market rose 2% in August, the third consecutive monthly rise, according to Loadlink Technologies.

Year-over-year, August load postings were also up 2% from August 2019, the loadboard operator said late Thursday.

It said August’s positive performance fell in line with expectation.

“For the first time, two consecutive months saw positive year-over-year comparisons since June and July of 2018 when load volumes reached record highs,” the company said.

It said early August volumes fell slightly following a strong week to end July.

“Volumes held steady until the last week of the month when average daily postings surged entering September and reached a peak level not seen since March – right before the coronavirus pandemic impacted Canada.”

Overall outbound cross-border load postings on Loadlink’s spot market saw a gain of 27% against a 12% decline in truck postings compared to July.

“This increase in load postings was the main contributing factor to the overall monthly improvement from July.”

Inbound loads from the U.S. fell 10% compared to July 2020, it said.

Year-over-year, inbound load volumes were down 7%. Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada also saw declines in loads as they fell 11%, 14% and 8% respectively. Western Canada fared the best as inbound load volumes only declined 1%.

Domestic activity on Loadlink’s spot market was up just 2% month-over-month, but increased 15% compared to August 2019.

Ontario and Quebec lanes were the standout performers when it came to lanes that saw the largest percentage increase in load volumes, the company said.

“Quebec outbound held the top three spots in this regard as the New Jersey, North Carolina and Florida inbound lanes all saw 88% average increases in loads from Quebec.”

Ontario outbound occupied the next two positions as the Florida and Virginia inbound markets saw 85% and 82% increases respectively, the company said.