This week’s Freight Talk “Trend of the Week” focused on the fact that rates are still flat to slightly down, as Van rates “hit rock-bottom this past week”, but are expected to begin to rebound as we move into February. So far this week, Chicago, Memphis, and Stockton are markets that have began to show signs of recovery with prices creeping up and available capacity dwindling down.  Last week a number of these markets were ones that we called out as having surprisingly low Load to Truck ratio’s of less than 1.5 loads per truck.

When reviewing the data this week, it is obvious that Memphis is one market that has really tightened up, based on a current Load to Truck ratio of 4.9 Loads for every Truck.  Columbus and Cincinnati are also two Midwest Markets where capacity has shifted in the past 7 days with Load to Truck ratio’s of over 3 loads per truck now vs. 1.5 load per truck last week.  My gut tells me that these increases in rate and overall volume is due to some end of the month volume that shippers looked to move late last week and into this week.  We certainly noticed an increase at Open Mile with overall volumes increasing by 30% the four day leading up to the end of January, simply due to an increase in demand from our existing customers.

As January closes out and February kicks into full gear, Open Mile is optimistic that rates will begin rising nationwide within the next few weeks.  We are starting to see capacity tighten up and be much more specific about the destination that they will accept loads to vs. a few weeks ago where carriers were simply looking to just keep their drivers moving.

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This week’s Freight Talk “Trend of the Week” focused on the fact that rates continued to decline seasonally in national markets throughout the US, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Memphis, and Philadelphia.  Throughout the month of January Open Mile has noticed extremely soft market conditions throughout the US, but especially in areas you may not expect like Chicago, Columbus, Memphis, and Saint Louis all demonstrating “load to truck ratio’s” of less than 1.5 loads per truck.  While freight volumes typically drop in January and throughout the 1st Quarter, we have been surprised to see some of the major markets as affected as they have been.  For example, In Chicago carriers are really fighting over freight right now and we are seeing some of the lowest prices we’ve seen in the past 18 months.  Rates from Metro Chicago to the North East and New England regions dropped on average by 12% last week at Open Mile, while rates from the East Coast back to Chicago remained stable.  This is clearly a sign that volumes have dropped out of this major market and the carriers based there are simply trying to keep their trucks moving and drivers happy.

With all of that said, we are continuing to see market fluctuations throughout the country and on the “drop of a dime” conditions could flip drastically.  I have already noticed this week Load to Truck ratio’s rising from Monday to Wednesday in Major Markets such as Memphis and Cincinnati which potentially is a sign that things are starting to heat up.  Additionally, bad weather or the lack of it, has allowed capacity to remain somewhat stable without any “acts of God” taking place temporarily displacing it, resulting in rate increases.  We’ll continue to report on capacity trends throughout the US over the next few months, to determine what if any capacity/price shifts will happen in 2012.