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Weekly Freight Market Update: Quarter End Scramble

Industry Insights, ShippersPublished on March 23, 2019

Spring continues to thaw the national freight network, as volumes have slowly increased with the addition of some produce, a small uptick in port activity, and few flatbed loads in the Southeast.

However, with all the new trucks purchased in 2018 – 490,100 units, according to ACT Research – payments need to be made, and  capacity remains loose.

Rejection rates are still under 7% nationwide, and rates remain low. DAT Trendlines data shows of the top lane rates in the country, half are up slightly, about 10% are flat and the remaining 40% are down for a net change of just over +1% in the overall market rates.

End Of The First Quarter

Next week brings with it end-of-quarter-volume, and the market will be watching closely to see how the network reacts. Shippers will be scrambling to get freight delivered before the end of the week, and with the first of April falling on a Monday, there is a high likelihood of a higher volume weekend than normal.

Shippers should plan ahead and tender loads as early in the week as possible, while carriers would do well keep trucks rolling through the weekend, taking advantage of the extra revenue opportunities.

Be sure you’re ready for the conditions in your market. 

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Convoy Team

Convoy is the nation's leading digital freight network. We move thousands of truckloads around the country each day through our optimized, connected network of carriers, saving money for shippers, increasing earnings for drivers, and eliminating carbon waste for our planet. We use technology and data to solve problems of waste and inefficiency in the $800B trucking industry, which generates over 87 million metric tons of wasted CO2 emissions from empty trucks. Fortune 500 shippers like Anheuser-Busch, P&G, Niagara, and Unilever trust Convoy to lower costs, increase logistics efficiency, and achieve environmental sustainability targets.
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