Market Conditions 1/8/2017-1/14/2017

This week's market has shown a decrease in load to truck demand on a national average. Load availability decreased 7% and truck availability increased by 6%. When taking all averages, reefer rates decreased 1%, van rates decreased by 0.5%, and flatbed rates held steady. Taking an average of rate points from various metrics, we have found the national average rates to be the following: Reefer: $2.07/mi, Van: $1.77/mi, Flatbed: $1.94/mi.

Refrigerated Freight

The reefer market's high demand for trucks continued again this week but showed signs of decreased volumes towards the end of the week. California, the Southeast, and especially Florida had lighter volumes and plentiful amounts of available equipment. In the Northeast, the Buffalo and Rochester markets continue to have the densest load to truck ratios, shipping various foods and dairy. The Heartland and parts of the Midwest have continued to struggle with shipping their spot freight due to a heavy shortage of trucks. The winter weather system has made problems even worse on Friday and Saturday. The Northwestern region of the U.S. still maintains a high demand for trucks with a 40-60 load to truck ratio. Outbound line haul rates range from $2-$3 per mile or even higher in the Northwest.

The Mexican border crossings have started and will continue with elevated load volumes. There was very little truck availability around Nogales, AZ and McAllen/ Laredo, TX again this week. Central and south Florida will continue to increase the volumes of squash, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, green beans and melons have just started shipping as well.

Monday:

Friday:

-DAT Power Load to Truck Reefer Densities 1/14/17

The rates below are average direct from customer rates. The bold line is the origin, left column is the destination. The following two columns are weekly ranges from the previous week. The next two columns are this week's ranges and the final column on the right is the percent changes from last week to this week.

-United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Market News https://www.marketnews.usda.gov 1/14/17

Dry Freight

On a national average, load availability decreased by 9% and truck postings increased 4%. Similar to the reefer market, the van market demonstrated a decrease in truck demand during the second half of the week. Certain markets still had a shortage of trucks, including the Heartland, Mountain states, Texas, and the upper Midwest.

Monday:

Friday:

-DAT Power Load to Truck Van Densities 1/14/17

Flatbed Densities

Monday:

Friday:

-DAT Power Load to Truck Flatbed Densities 1/14/17

Diesel Pricing

Fuel prices increased by 1.1 cents, bringing the national average price to $2.597 per gallon. This marks a 42 cent increase from the same week last year.