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COVID-19

Trucking Industry Trends

How is COVID-19 affecting capacity and freight rates?

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.

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The benefits and potential pitfalls in transportation ‘mini-bids’

While annual bid events are still one of the primary ways companies go about procuring transportation, many are turning to shorter, more targeted "mini-bids" as a way to shore up problematic lanes within their networks.

Why truckload contracts aren’t like other business contracts

Transportation costs are not like other business expenses. They’re affected by many different factors, and not always in the same ways as other commodities your company is accustomed to purchasing.

Truckload markets still search for stability

The country is slowly emerging from the pandemic, with the U.S. averaging 2.5 million vaccine doses a day. That hasn’t yet led to more stable truckload markets, however, and several factors could keep capacity tight for the next few months.

How business expansion can affect your transportation budget

Expanding your product line or adding new customers are classic ways to grow your business. But that growth also creates new challenges for supply chain managers.

DAT TRUCKERSEDGE
887,000 loads posted daily

Produce shipments still dominated by imports

Imported volumes of fruit and vegetables are on the rise, with the vast majority (93%) of truckloads coming across the southern border.

Port traffic congestion leads to delays for van freight

Strong import volumes continue to clog supply chains that are desperately trying to replenish depleted inventories.

March’s freight trends throw seasonality out the window

The spot market rollercoaster ride is unprecedented in many ways, with 2021 already beating records set in 2020.

Rise of the Mini-Bid: How transportation procurement is changing

Mini-bids have been around for decades, but transportation procurement teams have used them more and more in recent years. The disruptions caused by COVID-19 sped up the adoption even more.

Reefer load counts drop from damaged crops

February’s damaging cold temperatures looks to be impacting the supply of cabbage for next week’s St Patrick's Day celebrations.

Tight capacity pushes van rates higher despite lower volumes

While supply chain disruptions continue to create tight truckload freight markets, there are signs that the markets will soften in the weeks and months ahead.

Retailers are still playing catchup with depleted inventories

Last week, two data points and one jaw-dropping chart suggested that there’s still no end in sight to the ongoing restocking of inventories that have been depleted due to COVID-10.

The diseconomies of scale in truckload freight

Procuring truckload capacity is unique compared to other commodities. If your finance department isn't aware of these characteristics that are unique to truckload freight, then getting budget approval might be difficult.