This week, DAT Chief of Analytics Ken Adamo speaks with Virginia Addicott, former CEO of FedEx Custom Critical. Virginia shares her insight on how to survive a fluctuating freight market.
The DAT iQ analytics team takes a weekly look at how the freight markets are responding to the COVID-19 crisis, offering updates on supply and demand, pricing, plus a detailed look at DAT iQ forecasting models and how they are reacting to the business climate.
This week, DAT Chief of Analytics Ken Adamo speaks with Chris Caplice; Chief Scientist at Chainalytics, Executive Director of Center for Transportation and Logistics, and Senior Research Scientist at MIT. Chris will be transitioning to DAT as part of the recent FMIC acquisition. Watch Ken and Chris discuss further in this interview.
As we wrap up the month of May and roll into June, it becomes much more evident that the freight markets are soundly in recovery mode. Most of our key indicators are tracking towards 2019 levels and testing where they sat before COVID-19 hit the U.S.
Reefer carriers are starting to feel the pain of coronavirus-related closures, as volume and rates declined sharply for reefer equipment in the past two weeks. Restaurants and cafeterias are closed nationwide, which eliminates a big segment of refrigerated shippers and their freight, even as grocery stores continue to replenish inventories at an accelerated pace.
Van rates may fall as fast as they rose, as declining load-to-truck ratios signal the end of the coronavirus-fueled spike in spot freight. Retail inventories are still being depleted and replenished at a rapid pace, but the freight pipeline is depleted because of business closures all over the country. Plus, many consumers face sudden job losses, making them wary about discretionary spending.
COVID-19 has become one of the most disruptive events to hit supply chains in our lifetime, and the DAT Analytics team is publishing regular reports to track its impact on freight markets. See what's new this week.
