Transport Dive: Truck vs. train: Which has the upper hand as spot rates soar?
Shippers consider lead times and freight types when selecting over-the-road, rail or intermodal.
Shippers consider lead times and freight types when selecting over-the-road, rail or intermodal.
Dean Croke, principal analyst for DAT iQ, the freight data and analytics operation for DAT Freight & Analytics, expects winners and losers in the holiday shipping season this year. DAT operates an online marketplace for spot truckload freight.
Trucking executives say they’re seeing more shippers renegotiate contracts struck in January and swallowing higher rates to lock in capacity.
Data sharing is an issue, commercially and in public policy, that is hot on tongues of lawmakers and Silicon Valley officials. U.S. companies tend to take proactive measures to assure users, experts told Transport Dive.
Working into contracted freight is the goal of many an independent owner-operator looking to grow or increase stability.
Every September, freight starts to accelerate through supply chains in advance of the end-of-the-year holidays.
Demand for goods coming in from Mexico at the Laredo, Texas, border crossing is spurring significant per-mile rate hikes for loads out of Laredo into the rest of the U.S., says a prominent brokerage that works cross-border freight.
Over all, the index increased up 1.1% from July to August and was up 0.8% annually.
In large part, on the spot market anyway, 2020 has been a tale of two seasons, as many owner-operators and small fleets have experienced first hand in their own dealings.
DAT's line haul rates measure the seven-day weekly moving average for spot rates in dry van and reefer hauls. They often reflect the balance of supply and demand in the spot market. The rates exclude fuel surcharges and are derived from DAT’s RateView database.