The highlights from Tuesday’s SONAR reports. For more information on SONAR — the fastest freight-forecasting platform in the industry — or to request a demo, click here. Also, be sure to check out the latest SONAR update, TRAC — the freshest spot rate data in the industry.
Overview: Spot rates are up nearly 20 cents per mile since mid-February.
Highlights:
What does this mean for you?
Brokers: Put this lane at the top of the list of coverage priorities and do not accept any loads without verification from a carrier. This lane is normally extremely difficult to cover, but severe weather will make transactional freight even worse to deal with. Take any rate below $3.80 per mile and move on.
Carriers: Check with your shippers to make sure there have been no disruptions to their shipping schedules due to the weather. This lane should be extremely profitable for you to consider, though conditions in MIami are improving slightly in terms of reload potential.
Shippers: Communicate proactively with your carriers this week as weather could impact capacity. Consider rate increases in this lane as coverage will be difficult for a long time. The less competitive rates are, the less likely it will get covered. Carriers are placing much higher priority on loads to Dallas and Chicago.
Overview: The spread between intermodal and dry van spot rates shows a rational 15% discount compared to the highway.
Highlights:
What does this mean for you?
Brokers: Lower your bids for dry van capacity to reflect SONAR Market Dashboard data that shows dry van spot rates declining steadily in recent weeks. When bidding for capacity, keep in mind that $2.95/mile, $3.12/mile and $2.75/mile represent average spot rates, spot rates in the 67th percentile and spot rates in the 33rd percentile, respectively.
Carriers: With LA-Chicago being an “intermodal lane,” dry van loads tendered to you are likely to be time-sensitive, so be sure to get compensated accordingly. The Chicago Van Headhaul Index of 40 suggests that it should be easy to get reloaded in Chicago.
Shippers: Intermodal service levels that shippers experience in the lane will likely be tied to market segment (international or domestic) with port congestion impairing the fluidity of moving international containers inland. The current 15% spread between intermodal and dry van rates suggests that shippers moving less time-sensitive 53’ containers, without more advantageous contract rates in place, could economically use rail intermodal.
Overview: Near 50% rejection rates out of Omaha make for a potential gold mine for carriers.
Highlights:
What does this mean for you?
Brokers: Capacity is tightening in Omaha; ship what you can now before spot rates begin to climb upward aggressively. With outbound rejection rates still hovering near 50%, lean on carrier relationships and work with the carrier to get your shipment moved because half of all loads are being rejected.
Carriers: There is upward pressure on spot rates with almost a 50% rejection rate in Omaha, which indicated that spot rates should be closer to $5.75 as the week moves on. This lane stands to bring in some additional profit as origin capacity is among some of the tightest in the country.
Shippers: Outbound tender lead times in both markets are over 3.5 days. Omaha is hovering at nearly 4 days, but with the capacity getting tighter be prepared to add time to that. Ship only what is essential as rates continue to climb. Anything that can wait, should.
Source: https://www.freightwaves.com/news
Editor: FreightWaves Staff