With 2020’s tumultuous ride on the spot market showing little signs of slowing, shippers and carriers increasingly are leaning on short-term freight contract agreements as a bridge to calmer days and a return to the usual longer-term pacts.
The severity of COVID-19 outbreaks and how consumers respond will tell supply chain managers a lot about what to expect during the balance of the year.
The severity of COVID-19 outbreaks and how consumers respond will tell supply chain managers a lot about what to expect during the balance of the year.
With major weather events like hurricanes, freight movements tend to follow a common pattern. But within that pattern, circumstances and freight flows change quickly.
With freight markets already dislocated as a result of COVID-19, how would a hurricane affect supply chains further?
National average spot rates for van and refrigerated freight closed last week at their highest points in nearly two years, and the van load-to-truck ratio was above 5 for the third straight week, unprecedented for the month of August
Union Pacific Railroad will raise surcharges on excess contract cargo to $3,500 per container for small shippers, and raise spot market rates another $1,500 out of Los Angeles effective Aug. 23.
Dry van spot rates rose 12.2% between June and July, according to DAT Solutions. The rates were up 10.3% in July, from the same month in 2019.
Spot truckload rates out of California as of July 31 were up $1.00 to $1.40 per mile from the low point in April, according to DAT Solutions and a JOC.com analysis of rate data provided by digital broker Loadsmart.
“Supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 pushed more freight to the spot market, with national average truckload rates for vans, reefers and flatbeds each hitting their highest marks of the year in July,” according to DAT Solutions.