The total number of spot market loads on DAT One dropped 16% last week from 2.9 million to 2.4 million loads posted throughout the network during the week of July 17, said DAT Freight & Analytics. Dry van load posts fell 14.8% week over week and were 36% lower than the same week last year. Reefer posts fell farther, 17.3%, compared to the previous week and were down 44% year over year. Flatbed load posts were down 16.6%, a 39% decline year over year.
Truck posts were up, sending demand metrics farther down and putting pressure with a similar trajectory for rates. All-in, national averages continued to inch down, though the van rate was unchanged from the prior week:
The long-term picture for linehaul spot rates, excluding an estimated fuel surcharge, continues down in the spot market, as more freight continues to shift to contract-market movement as shippers look for stability in pricing.
For all the talk of an economic recession, likewise predictions of a "freight recession" going back to early on in the Spring, DAT said there was no real freight recession during the first half of the year, and certainly not in the last quarter. Overall truckload volumes were very strong in April, May and June, as they have been this month.
