Portland, OR – Spot market freight volumes reported by the DAT North American Freight Index rose 2.2 percent in June, compared to May. The month-over-month increase fell slightly short of seasonal norms; while freight volume increased from May to June in eight of the past ten years, the average increase was 10 percent.

Freight availability rose 1.8 percent in June for both vans and flatbeds compared to May, but only 0.6 percent for refrigerated (“reefer”) trailers. Compared to the record volume of June 2012, however, freight availability declined 9.5 percent. Volume dropped 9.5 percent for vans and 6.8 percent for flatbeds, but reefer load availability rose 3.9 percent, year over year.

Spot market rates rose 4.5 percent for vans in June compared to May, flatbed rates edged up 0.6 percent and reefer rates rose 6.0 percent. On a year-over-year basis, van rates declined 2.1 percent and flatbeds dropped 8.3 percent from the extremely high pricing levels of June 2012 in that segment. Reefer rates rose only 0.6 percent in June, compared to June 2012. Additional trend information and analysis is available at DAT Trendlines or the DAT blog.

Rates are derived from DAT RateView, which is based on $18 billion dollars of actual transactions paid by brokers, 3PLs and shippers to carriers. Reference rates are for line haul only, excluding fuel surcharges, which were unchanged in June on a month-over-month basis, but declined 2.0 percent compared to June 2012.

The monthly DAT North American Freight Index reflects spot market freight availability on the TransCore DAT network of load boards in the United States and Canada.