December Spot Rates

As is predicted at the end of the holiday season, truckload capacity was very tight for the week ending January 5 and starting on December 31. The increased holiday loads brought about an increase of 3 cents for averages across the nation when it came to flatbeds, reefers, and dry vans. 

While truckload capacities were high as 2018 drew to a close, fuel surcharges were dropping significantly. However, the rates that were dropped when it came to high traffic lanes could indicate that trends will be changing as 2019 begins. 

High spot rates for the new year

Data for the new year does show that generally spot rates are high. Spot market loads rose overall by 18 percent for the week December 30 through January 5 in comparison with spot market loads from the week December 23 through December 29. Spot market capacities rose by a total of 11 percent over the same period. When it comes to spot market loads looked at over monthly periods, they dropped 5.5 percent in December compared with November. They also dropped 19 percent when figures from December of 2018 are compared with figures seen back in December of 2017. 

For the week of December 30 to January 5, the biggest increase is seen in flatbed load-to-truck figures. Here there was an increase of 29 percent seen. There was also an increase seen in flatbed load-to-truck figures in December compared with the preceding month of November. Here an increase of 13 percent was seen. On the other hand, there was a significant drop seen of 33 percent in flatbed load-to-truck figures in December of 2018 compared to December of 2017. 

Van and reefer load-to-truck data

Both van and reefer load-to-truck figures showed a drop in the week of December 30 to January 5 compared with the preceding week. Van load-to-truck figures dropped only slightly by 0.2 percent while reefer load-to-truck figures dropped by a total of 7.1 percent. Spot van rates rose by 1.4 percent and reefer spot rates rose by 1.2 percent over the same period.

One noteworthy statistic when December of 2018 is compared with December 2017 is the fact that reefer load-to-truck figures dropped by 49 percent over this period. Flatbed load-to-truck figures also dropped this past December compared to the preceding December, but only dropped by 41 percent. 

National spot rates

When it comes to national spots rates for vans, flabeds, and reefers, there was an increase seen in the last week of 2018 and first week of 2019 for all three. While reefer national spot rates were highest on January 5 at $2.47, flatbed spot rates were only one cent behind at $2.46. National spot rates for vans were lower at $2.11 on January 5. 

Fuel prices

 Fuel prices continued their drop in the week of December 30 to January 5. They dropped by 0.9 percent over the preceding week for this period. It's also worth noting that fuel prices were lower in December than in November. They showed a drop of 5.4 percent comparing this past month to the preceding one. Although fuel prices have recently shown a drop, it's worth noting that they are 7.3 percent higher for December of 2018 than they were for December of 2017.