SONAR Sightings for June 14: Denver to New Orleans, national tender rejections, more

The highlights from Tuesday’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.

NTI as a reference point

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.

Tuesday’s National Truckload Index Daily: $2.84

Lexington, Kentucky, to Columbia, South Carolina: $3.26 a mile — 435 miles

• Currently paying 42 cents above the national average, spot rates appear to have hit a floor after falling 84 cents in the past three months.
• After a dip over Memorial Day weekend, the Outbound Tender Volume Index (OTVI) for Lexington has risen back up to 58.14 basis points (bps) — roughly where it has been since early April — with rejections currently at 6.2%.
• OTVI for the Columbia market has risen 18 bps since the recent holiday, putting it back up to 108.5 bps. However, rejections have dropped in the month of June to 6.4%. While there is still a good chance to book a load coming out, carriers should move quickly to make sure that they lock one in before rejections have the chance to drop even further.

Denver to New Orleans: $1.79 a mile — 1,320 miles

• Spot rates have decreased 63 cents in the past 90 days to settle at $1.79 a mile — $1.05 less than the national average. That is attractive for brokers and shippers but not so much for carriers.
• Outbound tender volumes from Denver have increased 4.49% in the past week, and capacity will remain loose in this lane because the outbound tender rejections from the Denver market have fallen 232 bps week-over-week. 
• Tender rejections out of New Orleans have dropped more than 841 bps day-over-day, indicating that capacity within the market is loosening, which will affect spot market opportunities coming out of New Orleans. Carriers will try to ask for more going in to compensate for this.

Watch: Carrier update

Chart of the day: Outbound Tender Rejection Index for the US

Rejections can be a great way to measure the amount of volume that is being shipped. If there are more loads to choose from, carriers will reject freight in hopes to find something better. 

As the industry experiences what is now considered to be “abnormal” post-pandemic, we are seeing volumes across the country return to those pre-pandemic levels.

The chart below shows the rejection percentage across the country for the past six months. Volume has essentially been in free fall since the start of the year, signifying that volumes nationwide have been dropping at the same rate.