On a month-over-month basis, load volume was 14 percent lower in August than in July. This follows the seasonal pattern of the past five years, when spot market loads declined by an average of 5 percent from July to August. Counter to historical trends, however, freight designated for vans on the spot market declined by the same 14 percent, month-over-month. In the years 2005-09, van loads increased by an average of 5 percent in August, compared to July.
The month-over-month dip in van freight may have resulted from an acceleration in shipments of imported goods. TransCore's spot market analysts have heard from multiple sources that container traffic arrived early this year, to avoid down time in busy West Coast ports. Rail traffic was unusually strong in July, and those imported goods may have also moved onto trucks in July instead of August, leading to a shift in spot market freight volume.