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Freight Futures daily curve: 3/12

Image: Jim Allen/FreightWaves

Freight Futures lane to watch today: Atlanta to Philadelphia

It was another mixed session for Trucking Freight Futures, with the spot National contract (FUT.VNU202003) finishing fractionally lower to $1.336 per mile. Both the West and South regions continued to weigh on the National average, with the West regional contract (FUT.VWU202003) slipping 0.6% to $1.346 and the South regional contract (FUT.VSU202003) falling 0.2% to $1.135. The East regional contract (FUT.VEU202003, FUTC1.VEU) was up nearly 0.5% to $1.528 and has remained resilient, despite the recent market turbulence. It continues to benefit from the increased flow of imports into the region (PIMS.USNYC).

Pushing the East higher on Wednesday was the fundamentally sound ATL to PHL contract (FUT.VAP202003, FUTC1.VAP), which gained $0.013, or 0.75%, to $1.798 and the PHL to CHI contract (FUT.VPC202003), which rose 0.8% to $1.011. The CHI to ATL contract (FUT.VCA202003) was unchanged at $1.776. The outbound LAX contracts in the West and South remained under downward pressure while the inbound contracts rose. In the West, the LAX to SEA contract (FUT.VLS202003) slid $0.022 (1.2%) to settle at $1.795. This drop was mostly offset by a 0.9% increase in the SEA to LAX contract (FUT.VSL202003), which rose to $0.898. In the South, the LAX to DAL contract (FUT.VLD202003) fell $0.016 (1.3%) to $1.207 while the DAL to LAX contract (FUT.VDL202003) climbed $0.011, or 1%, to $1.062.

FreightWaves SONAR: Chart

SONAR Tickers: FUTC1.VAP, FUTC1.VEU, PIMS.USNYC


2 Comments

  1. Hans Witt

    I am new to freight waves. I am both fascinated and scared to death that someone is trying to put truck fright on the futures market
    I am fascinated that someone takes the trucking industry seriously,that our services have value.
    Terrified ! because if this works, I know how Top shipper, Logistic companies & Big carriers can try and manipulate this to their advantage.
    Heads Up – Trucking industry is not free market, the basic economic rules are same, but they work a little different in the trucking world, very complex.Example ;Carriers really don’t set the rates ,unless they have control, the more control they have, the more negotiating power, Ultimately the the owner of the product controls the rate.
    Another hint- Load boards can be highly unpredictable . There is no oversight of any kind, can be very erroneous about the amount of freight or trucks that are really there, or if the posted rate was really what the carrier hauled it for . Shipper can give 1 load to twenty brokers and it looks like 20 loads on the Load board. carrier can post 5 trucks and only have 1 or none. Load Board are “spot freight” even though you have sign a contract to haul it. Actually all freight is contract because the BOL is a contract if no other contract is provided, but the industry likes to have secrets. One has to learn to “read the tea leaves” so speak.
    You guys choose some really stable ” lanes” and your using van fright, which is some what more transparent, except some of it is actually piggy backed.
    Good Luck- this is going to be interesting.

    1. Tom Mallon

      Hi Hans…

      Thanks for the comment. You raise some good points. A little history about the Trucking Freight Futures market. They launched last March 29 on the Nodal Exchange. Nodal is regulated by the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission which oversees all futures trading in the US. The contracts themselves are ultimately financially settled off of an index that is calculated by DAT and is based on dry van, line-haul rates for freight on on a pick-up date. Only rates for freight that is picked up on that date for the specific lane is included in the calculation. There is also a minimum number of rate contributors required for each lane and date. This is all part of the methodology approved by the Nodal Exchange and CFTC to prevent manipulation. As for daily pricing, market participants anonymously submit their bids (intentions to buy) or offers (intentions to sell) to the exchanges matching platform where all trading occurs. This data then is used to produce the daily value for each contract ie: $1.34/mile for the National average. Key point is that there is never a truck involved in the buying or selling of a Trucking Freight Futures contract. Happy to answer any questions you may have.

      Regards,
      Tom Mallon
      VP, Freight Futures Markets
      FreightWaves
      [email protected]

Comments are closed.