The highlights from Monday’s SONAR reports are below. For more information on SONAR — the fastest freight-forecasting platform in the industry — or to request a demo, click here. Also, be sure to check out the latest SONAR update, TRAC — the freshest spot rate data in the industry.
Market share
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Outbound volumes from Allentown are starting this week off by continuing a climb that began last Monday. Allentown is the major headhaul market in the Northeast, and in the past week outbound tender volumes were up 10.3%, bringing Allentown’s outbound market share up to 2.8% and making it the fifth-largest freight market by outbound volume.
Still, even with an increase in outbound freight volumes, capacity has loosened in the past week. Rejection rates have seen a roughly 90-basis-point drop to 7.9%, hinting that carriers are sticking with contracted freight for better rates.
Meanwhile, neighboring market Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is struggling to maintain its headhaul status.
Since Aug. 22, outbound volumes from Harrisburg are down 7.4%, but inbound freight levels ticked up over the weekend. That increase leaves outbound volumes exceeding inbound by only 0.3%, pushing Harrisburg’s Headhaul Index down to 0.99 — its lowest value in the past 90 days.
Detroit
Detroit continues its highest levels of outbound volume on record since FreightWaves SONAR began tracking the market in 2018. (Cue the Motown hits.) Starting Aug. 23, outbound volumes in Motor City are up 17.8%, and inbound levels are up 16.4% during the same period.
The simultaneous rise in both directional flows of volume has generated a stalemate in Detroit’s Headhaul Index. After taking a few steps down last week, the Headhaul Index is starting this week on a flat line at minus 35.7.
The increase in outbound volumes has tightened capacity over the past week. In the past seven days, rejection rates are up 160 bps to match their highest value in the past three months at 7.6% — well above the national average of 5.5%.
NTI as a point of reference
The National Truckload Index is a daily look at how spot rates in specific lanes hold up in comparison to the national average, giving carriers and brokers an idea of which lanes to gravitate toward or avoid.
Lane to watch: Little Rock, Arkansas, to Detroit
Spot market rates from Little Rock to Detroit have declined slowly since the start of the month, but as of now remain above the national average and with a confidence score of 5, leaving little volatility in these rates.
Outbound tender volumes in Little Rock surged nearly 30% at the start of August and have maintained those elevated levels. Now with an increase in outbound volume from Detroit, carriers can make just over the national average in two transit days with ample opportunity to stay loaded and rolling afterward.
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