Overview

  • As a whole, spot rates technically increased last week, but by only a fraction of a cent (0.1%).
    • Flatbed and specialized rates continued to decline (by 0.3% and 1.4%, respectively). It was the smallest week-over-week decrease in flatbed rates in 11 weeks.
    • Van rates rose quite modestly, by 0.6%, while refrigerated rates rose more dramatically, by 4.7%.
  • This is unusually low growth for this point in the year, which Truckstop attributes to Labor Day being on the latest possible date (essentially pushing the pre-Labor Day rate spike back a week).
  • At the same time, a sudden and strong increase in load postings coupled with a modest decline in trucking posts caused the Market Demand Index to surge to 140.5, its highest level in six weeks.

Additional Data

  • Compared to last year, overall rates are up 37.5%.
  • National fuel prices edged up $0.12, from $5.48 in the previous week to $5.60.
  • The Van MDI increased 52.4 points to 270.4 as load availability rose 14.5% and truck availability fell 7.7%. Compared to last year, the MDI is up 132.6 points, or 96.3%.
  • The Refrigerated MDI increased 117.8 points to 513.6 as load availability rose 11.9% and truck availability decreased 13.8%. The MDI is up 322.1 points, or 168.2%, YoY.
  • The Flatbed MDI rose 15.6 points to 162.5 as load availability increased 9.7% and truck availability decreased 0.8%. Compared to last year, the MDI is up 70.0 points, or 75.7%.
  • The Specialized MDI increased 3.0 points to 35.6 as load availability moved higher by 8.7% and truck availability decreased 0.5%. The MDI is up 8.4 points, or 30.8%, compared to this time last year.