spot market volatility

Truckload linehaul spot rate drop accelerates under pressure from surging diesel prices

Stormy weather for the trucking industry. Photo: Jim Allen (FreightWaves)

FreightWaves’ Future of Supply Chain summit is being held this week in Northwest Arkansas, the epicenter of North American supply chains. If you aren’t able to attend, you are welcome to tune into our free live stream that will carry all of the content from the main stage. The event kicks off on Monday at 9 a.m. ET.

At the event, we will be introducing several new data products, including a new national index that is assessed and published every day (NTID.USA). This is based on the FreightWaves...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truckload-linehaul-spot-rate-drop-accelerates-under-pressure-from-surging-diesel-prices

How data insights can help shippers combat today’s market volatility

In the world of logistics, global supply chains are put to the test with regular disruptions and volatility.

From skyrocketing fuel prices to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, all assumptions about future challenges are being questioned. The historical trends and data forecasting tactics of yesterday cannot be relied upon to navigate current market uncertainties.  

Spot market rates are just the latest challenge fueling market uncertainties. Matthew Harding, senior vice president of data science at...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-data-insights-can-help-shippers-combat-todays-market-volatility

Will Hurricane Ida cause carriers to chase FEMA relief loads?

Satellite animation of major Hurricane Ida approaching Louisiana.

At this time, we do not know the level of destruction that Hurricane Ida will inflict. Hopefully, for the people and property impacted, the damage will be minimal. 

To the degree necessary, local, state, and federal emergency management agencies, relief organizations, churches, major corporations, and ordinary people will band together to help those affected by the storm. 

However, when major hurricanes have hit the United States in the past (as recently as last week, unfortunately), the Federal...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/will-hurricane-ida-cause-carriers-to-chase-fema-relief-loads

Dynamic contracts shield shippers from spot-market volatility during hurricane season

Dynamic contracts shield shippers from spot-market volatility during hurricane season (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

The annual hurricane season requires tremendous scheduling and operational planning within the logistics industry, as the resulting storms often cause major flooding and road closures. Although carriers would seem to be the obvious logistics stakeholders impacted the most during this season, shippers can be worse off as they cannot plan for the capacity volatility that could affect their supply chains. 

FreightWaves spoke with Anshu Prasad, the CEO of Leaf Logistics, to understand how shippers...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/dynamic-contracts-shield-shippers-from-spot-market-volatility-during-hurricane-season

MoLo’s big bet on service

It makes sense that MoLo Solutions’ logo is a heart. More than any other freight brokerage I’ve come to know, MoLo runs on heart, broadly defined: passion, willpower, charisma, hunger, grit.

The company hasn’t been shy about its service-at-all-costs philosophy and what it’s willing to do to take care of its customers. MoLo’s executives have wagered the future of the company on their belief that shippers will ultimately reward loyalty and honesty. 

In an interview this week, MoLo’s leadership...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/molos-big-bet-on-service

Trucking Markets: capacity tightness spreads

The question on every trucking carrier and freight broker’s mind: “is this surge just normal seasonality, or something more?”

Answering that question is difficult because of the number of unknown variables in the marketplace and how they interact. It’s impossible to get a precise measure of absolute capacity: the existing data speaks indirectly to overall trends rather than actual truck counts. And the short-term outlook for the U.S. economy is highly uncertain as well. 

When both supply and...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/trucking-markets-capacity-tightness-spreads

Trucking markets: A fundamental dislocation

Capacity ratcheted slightly tighter across a broad swath of the country again this week, but not yet to levels (7-10%) that would trigger widespread inflation in spot market rates. Spot rates for dry vans increased faster than spot rates for refrigerated equipment, which were flattish and may be peaking. Contracted truckload volumes to major carriers are still healthy and well above year-ago levels, but shippers are tendering mini-bid freight at prices lower than prevailing contract rates,...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/trucking-markets-a-fundamental-dislocation

Trucking markets: Digging out of a hole

Despite noisy holiday volume data, by most measures trucking markets are continuing their recovery. Week-over-week comparisons look dramatic and make that progress look faster than it actually is: remember that rates are relatively low, capacity is relatively loose, and spot volumes—but not contracted volumes—are soft relative to last year.

That said, we are watching spot rates on lanes heading into undesirable backhaul markets. Those lanes tend to be the first markets where carriers recover...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trucking-markets-digging-out-of-a-hole

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