Rapidly changing shipping patterns and cost structures have made historical comparisons much more challenging for the freight market.

There are numerous reasons carrier compliance rates have been increasing over the past few months. An increase in short-haul freight may be making it easier for carriers to cover more freight.

Reefer capacity appears to be easing in the contracted space, but spot rates appear to be as touchy as ever.

Intermodal volumes are down while tender rejections are up. The rails may be missing a huge growth opportunity, but is there anything they can do about it?

The truckload spot market appears to have hit another peak, but quickly rising fuel costs make this appear much larger than it is.

Two of the nation’s largest centers for outbound freight demand saw record low levels of carrier acceptance rates this past week. This comes as the worst of the COVID capacity crunch appeared to be in the rearview mirror.

Capacity is retightening in California as demand surges once again. There are new patterns emerging that may lead to a battle for capacity between the two coasts.

FreightWaves improves its Supply Chain Intelligence product with two new visibility tools.

Shippers are desperately trying to find a way to get their freight into the U.S. The peak impacts to surface transportation may be in the future.

FreightWaves adds a new way to measure capacity changes in the domestic freight market to its SONAR platform.

Shippers may have had a little more success with contracted carriers in May, but it came at a high cost.

Shippers continue to struggle to find a reliable way to get freight into the U.S., which is causing major changes to surface transportation patterns.

FreightWaves adds exclusive new data set to an already extensive amount of reefer data.

In 2019 shippers crammed warehouses full of inventory coinciding with a stagnant freight market. As warehousing capacity tightens, could this contribute to the already tight transportation space?

The industrial sector is trying to recover faster than transportation can react. There are numerous factors limiting the economic recovery, illustrating that it is harder to turn production back on than off.

Many carriers expanded their fleets after the 2018 freight boom and were rewarded with an extremely challenging oversupplied market in 2019. The current pattern looks eerily similar to early 2018, but are they comparable?

Containers have been in short supply, exacerbated by gross trade imbalances between the U.S. and China. The surging flow of empties moving back to the West Coast implies the ships won’t be slowing anytime soon.

One of the results of the 2017-18 freight market boom was an increase in the cost of operating that held over into a slower 2019 when capacity became abundant. Costs are on the rise once again as carriers struggle to find drivers to capture market share.

Imports have fueled the domestic freight economy over the past year. That growth continues out of the traditional peak season with shippers booking maritime capacity in April. Could this translate to a record summer for trucking?

The relationship between personal consumption and trucking demand has strengthened even further as companies struggle to maintain inventory. This suggests a very active spring and summer for transportation providers.

Transportation rates continue to climb while service is at an all-time low. Shippers will have to be aggressive in devising new strategies to keep costs under control.

Import volumes are growing rapidly into secondary ports as shippers scramble to build inventory. What are some of the short- and long-term implications to domestic transportation providers?

Advancements in tender data science and paid market data now power SONAR SCI (Supply Chain Intelligence) Lane Acuity.  SONAR Lane Acuity provides lane-level insight into market stability and rate benchmarking. What is it?  Lane Acuity allows users to compare their contract rates to their peers as well as market through cohort benchmarking. That promotes a […]

Intermodal shipping is dominated by the largest shippers in the U.S. and operates on a more static network, which gains higher cost efficiency than trucking over longer-mileage runs.

The intermodal contract saving indices (IMCSI) show the percent savings of shipping via intermodal versus dry van truckload contract rates. To ensure comparability across modes, the calculation only compares truckload and intermodal rates in identical origin-destination pairs. The IMCSI tickers are an aggregation of individual lanes. On “This week in SONAR,” Craig Fuller, FreightWaves CEO, […]

Reefer capacity has tightened to all-time levels, pushing spot rates for produce moves to seasonal peaks ahead of schedule.

Though already present at a lane level in the Lane Signal application inside of the SONAR platform, FreightWaves has aggregated a national predictive rate value for van (FWS.USA) and reefer (FWSR.USA) modes and made them accessible to view historically and up to a year into the future. The national rates are averages of the over […]

The underlying fundamentals of the market are showing signs of moving slowly back toward a more stable scenario and spot rates may be unable to paint the full picture.

The latest round of winter weather hit transportation hard. How does this compare to other events?

The import boom appears far from over, and it will have implications long after this wave of unprecedented orders subsides.

Companies are paying significantly more for transportation than they were a year ago with many contracts yet to be implemented.

Although many questions remain for trucking in 2021, flatbed appears to be poised for a much stronger year.

Freight volumes have exploded out of southern California over the past two years. Is this pattern sustainable?

Consumer spending on goods drove the majority of the freight boom in 2020. Will this trend last in 2021?

Class 8 truck orders are surging signaling carriers are once again willing to invest in their fleets. Does this mean another overcorrection of capacity is in store?

Imports continue to pile up as shippers and carriers take time for the holidays. They may come back to a mess.

Transportation providers may spend January unclogging supply chains as warehouse capacity has become a precious commodity thanks to the continued influx of imports.

Spot rates continued to increase after the holiday period ended even as capacity returned to the market according to the Outbound Tender Reject Index.

Cold chain distribution shifts following the pandemic along with a much smaller supply of available base capacity has made the reefer carrier a much more valuable commodity this year.

Capacity is historically tight in trucking, pushing spot rates and profit margins higher. How much of this momentum will carriers be able to maintain?

Temperature-controlled equipment rates are already breaking records, could the vaccine distribution push them higher?

Trucking and rail volumes remain elevated while the imports fade. Is this is beginning of the end of the 2020 freight boom?

The election results show just how divided the nation is politically and COVID cases are back on the rise. Shipping activity appears to be insulated from any negative effects at the moment, but for how long?

Record trucking volumes along with shrinking refinery production could make fuel prices an overlooked threat to carrier margins and shipping costs into 2021.

Anthony and Zach bring on Jon Bradford of Dynamo, a venture capital firm specializing in early stage investments, to discuss what effect 2020 has had on investment trends and sentiment in the supply chain.

Import volumes continue to fuel the surface transportation boom. Will it last into 2021?

Anthony and Zach discuss the increasing concerns over the driver shortage and how presidential elections influence the economy.

Reefer carrier revenues are expanding rapidly as capacity tightens faster for the temperature-controlled segment of trucking.

Carriers are investing in new trailers over tractors during the most recent freight boom. What does this mean for capacity in the future?

Freight volumes are not the only thing putting pressure on capacity.

Anthony and Zach bring on Maritime expert Henry Byers to discuss the near- and long-term impacts to the domestic freight market resulting from the record-breaking influx of shipments from Asia.

Trucking spot rates are averaging well over what they were a year ago implying many shippers will see rates increase next year. How much will it be?

Transportation costs are hitting record levels as companies struggle to grab capacity amidst an unusually early peak season.

Anthony and Zach talk about driver retention and recruitment issues and how they will contribute to keeping the spot market for trucking active through the rest of 2020.

Shippers are willing to pay more to put freight on the rail just to get it moving out of Los Angeles.

International import bookings signal continued strength in the domestic freight market.

As trucking capacity tightens and spot rates rise, driver turnover increases. Are some of them leaving the industry for good?

Zach and Anthony cover the latest in the freight economy. Special guest and Senior Economist Dustin Jalbert joins to discuss the lumber market.

Hurricane Laura hit at a time when trucking capacity is unusually tight, a fact that may hinder the recovery efforts.

Anthony and Zach discuss the potential impact of Hurricane Laura to the freight market and bring on special guest Chris Bryant, a flatbed owner-operator, for insight on what is happening on the road.

Freight is getting crammed into the U.S. West Coast as fast as carriers can pick it up. How long will it last?

Joined by special guest Zac Rogers, Anthony and Zach discuss the current freight market’s propensity to overachieve over the past few months and explore reasons why that will persist or crumble.

The last time capacity tightened to this level, capacity flooded the trucking space. Will the same outcome occur in 2020?

Wait times have fallen as as shippers compete for capacity. What is the connection between capacity and detention?

Volumes have recovered faster than many expected leading to many transportation companies posting earnings beats in Q2. There are no signs of slowing into August.

Chart of the Week: Total Rail Carloads, Chemical Rail Carloads, Motor Vehicle Rail Carloads – USA  SONAR: RTOTC.USA, RTOCH.USA, RTOMV.USA The latest rail carload data is showing that the industrial side of the economy, which is the backbone for a large amount of freight movement in the U.S., has finally started to recover after hovering on the […]

Anthony and Zach discuss the Knight-Swift earnings and what they mean for the freight economy. Anthony gives an economic update and Zach talks about the continued unexpected strength of freight volumes in the U.S.

Companies are cramming warehouses full of freight as they change their supply chains to better suit the post COVID-19 world. Trucking capacity tightens as a result.

Anthony and Zach talk about the impact of Roadcheck week on the freight market and bring on Zac Rogers to discuss the latest Logistics Manager’s Index results showing increasing transportation prices along with declining warehouse capacity, a pattern eerily similar to 2018.

The erratic nature of the economic recovery has dramatically changed shipping behavior, which has strained carrier networks.

Anthony and Zach talk to Chris Wolfe, CEO of PowerFleet, about how COVID-19 has impacted supply chains and what the resurgence in cases may do to inhibit their recovery.

Capacity is almost as tight as it was during the panic buying inspired March. Could it get tighter?

Anthony and Zach discuss the booming freight market and reasons why it will or will not sustain into July as well as the implications for the new insurance bill and YRC bailout.

Southern California has become the hot spot for freight in the post COVID-19 freight market. Could it be the region to tell us what’s next?

Anthony and Zach talk to rail and intermodal expert Mike Baudendistel about some interesting signals from that sector as well as connecting the dots between modes.

A decline in contract rates that were implemented prior to the COVID-19 outbreak may make this year tighter for carriers.

Anthony and Zach discuss the dynamic between the spot and contract market as rates continue their wild ride in 2020. Do carriers, brokers or shippers control the spot market?

A lot of the recent struggles for carriers originated in what many consider to be the most profitable year.

Anthony and Zach discuss the hours of service exemption, consumer prices, and other recent macroeconomic releases. Dr. Zac Rogers makes an appearance to review the latest LMI findings and the direction of the logistics industry.

Produce season has arrived, pushing rates higher than 2019 in many areas. Will this impact the rest of the country’s capacity?

Anthony and Zach discuss what to make of the subtle increase for the May PMI and orders, while domestic freight volumes surge. Also, produce season pushes agricultural rates over 2019.

Freight moving long distances in May might lead to a strong summer peak.

Anthony and Zach discuss the surprisingly rapid recovery in the housing/home improvement sector of the economy and whether it has sustainability.

Imports of nondurable goods are outperforming durable goods imports this month, which may indicate warehouses are full of their durable counterparts due to lack of demand.

Chart of the Week: Outbound Tender Volume Index– USA SONAR: OTVI.USA After experiencing one of the most volatile periods in history over the past two months, freight market volumes have recovered to February levels in the past week. February is not a great month for freight traditionally speaking but considering a month ago volumes were running 15-20% […]

Zach and Anthony go over the latest economic trends within the freight industry and bring on special guest, Zac Rogers to breakdown the Logistics Managers Index and his analysis of how the COVID-19 pandemic is effecting the industry.

Reefer capacity has started to show early signs of tightening after experiencing the loosest conditions in years in April. Will van capacity follow suit?

Chinese imports have fully recovered. Does this mean the domestic trucking market will see a similar outcome?

Zach and Anthony review some of the latest company earnings and a major economic releases which have yet to reveal the full story of the COVID-19 impact on the freight economy.

Many expected a worse outcome for carriers in March as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Ironically, the pandemic may have padded some 1Q results.

Anthony and Zach break down the Knight-Swift and Heartland earnings; slowing decline of freight rates and volumes and what the rise in imports mean for the recovery.

Carriers are getting more notice to pick up loads. Is this a result of Amazon relaxing their service expectations?

Anthony and Zach discuss what to make of the first major U.S. carrier to report earnings during the COVID-19 outbreak along with the recent Cass, industrial production and retail releases.

The maritime shipping companies have been able to increase their rates amidst the COVID-19 induced shut down. Is this a sign of things to come for domestic carriers?

Anthony and Zach have special guests Former Flex CEO and current strategic adviser to Clear A.I. Mike McNamara and FreightWaves Chief Strategy Officer JT Engstrom on to discuss coronavirus’ impact on various pieces of global supply chains and give an update on how the economy and freight market are reacting domestically.

Even as freight volumes surged to record levels in March, drivers spent less time driving.

Anthony and Zach discuss the swelling unemployment numbers as well as the plummeting freight volumes and what the endgame might look like for the COVID-19 outbreak.

Air cargo rates spike in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Medical supplies are in high demand while much of the air capacity is grounded.

With unemployment levels skyrocketing and a stimulus package on the table, Anthony and Zach are joined by Andrew Cox as they debate how the U.S. should handle the COVID-19 outbreak as a country economically, as a business, and as an individual.

Trucking capacity is the tightest it has been in 17 months thanks to the surging volumes, but all signs point to this being a short-lived event.