Truckload rates up 5.1% in March

Rates are at an all-time high thanks to increasing demand and “extraordinarily tight” capacity, according to the Cass Truckload Linehaul Index.    Truckload rates increased 5.1 percent in March 2015 compared to March 2014, according to the latest Cass Truckload Linehaul Index.  Cass Information Systems Inc., a transportation intelligence analyst, said the March reading represented an all-time high for the index.
   The company attributed the growth in rates to increased demand and capacity remaining “extraordinarily tight.” Cass expects “that contract rate increases will continue to filter into our index at higher levels.”
   Investment firm Avondale Partners said of the March index reading, “Although spot market pricing has decelerated somewhat (it remains strong), we are not surprised to see our index continue to post mid-to-high single digit gains and we expect this to continue through the second quarter of 2015.
   “We see TL pricing increasing between 4% and 9% in 2015, depending on how much rate increase each carrier was successful in obtaining in 2014 and when those rate increases were achieved,” added Avondale. “It is our sense that contracts settled later in 2014 were at ever higher rates.”