Strong and sustained demand, combined with widespread supply chain disruption, has advanced the US trucking industry’s traditional peak season by months, tamping down the seasonality normally associated with July and August, according to analysts interviewed by JOC.com. They expect both spot and contract truckload rates to remain strong through the end of the year, even if volumes moderate.
“We normally would see a truckload [rate] peak in October and November, but I think we’re seeing it now,” Dean Croke, principal analyst for DAT Freight & Analytics, said in an interview Thursday. DAT’s US average seven-day spot dry van rate climbed from $2.38 to $2.42 per mile last week, even though the load-per-truck ratio dropped from 6.0 to 5.6, meaning there were 5.6 available loads per truck.