TransCore’s North American Freight Index that monitors spot market truckload freight movement throughout the United States and Canada ended the year with a 55% increase compared with December 2009. Spot market freight volumes for the third and fourth quarters in 2010 are the highest since 2005, a peak year for spot market volume.
Load availability in December 2010 increased by 0.2% from November, signaling robust freight shipping on the spot market.
TransCore’s Truckload Rate Index showed spot market line-haul rates for vans remained stable at $1.28. Freight typically picks up in Q1 and continues through spring. The national average spot market linehaul rates for refrigerated trucks softened by $0.05 (3.3%) and flatbed rates dipped by $0.01.
Spot market rates are the rates that brokers and third-party logistics (3PL) companies pay to the carrier.
