SONAR Sightings for July 29: LA volumes increase, indicating ports may be catching up

The highlights from Friday’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 watch

Boston

Boston, like most of the Northeast, is a traditional backhaul market. As outbound volumes have heated up by 20% since mid-July, inbound loads have increased by about the same amount. This has pushed down outbound tender rejections from 4.38% to 2.66% over the past few weeks. Keep an eye on Boston as it is a market that could see an upswing if outbound volumes continue this trend.

Los Angeles

Over the past two years, Southern California (LA and Ontario) has been the heartbeat of the freight market as imports spiked through the ports. Headhaul scores reached a high-water mark of 318.84 in July 2021. Since early February, outbound tender volumes have dropped 31.45% out of LA, but this trend has reversed course over the past week as outbound tenders have increased 13.2% due to increases in port activity. 

Both LA and Ontario have seen outbound tender rejections rise from their pits of 3.5% by 50 basis points, reaching 4%. This is very far off from the market a year ago when rejections hovered around 18%.

Chicago

Over the past week, inbound load volumes have created more truckload capacity in the Chicago and Joliet markets. Joliet’s inbound volumes climbed 8% this week, while outbound volumes decreased slightly. While Chicagoland is still a strong headhaul market, competition for loads and pricing is heating up, as outbound tender rejections have fallen 128 bps.

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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.

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Lane to watch: Chicago to Denver

As the headhaul score in the Windy City drops, finding strong lanes can be challenging. One market that has had a strong July is Denver, where outbound tender rejections have climbed to almost 12%, or double the national average of tender rejections. Based on TRAC spot rates, Chicago to Denver is paying $3.19 per mile, 34 cents above FreightWaves’ National Trucking Index average rate.

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Watch: Carrier update