tender rejections

Hotlanta’s tender rejections peaked at 11.2%.

Tender rejections are at 6% and rising, two weeks before the holiday.

The Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago freight markets are all tightening.

Every week, thousands of loads move across the country before a single rate hits the load board. That’s because most freight—especially high-volume freight—starts with a contract. Shippers send out tenders to their core carriers, usually the same ones every week. But when those carriers say no? That’s when things start to shift—and it’s also when […]

The entire market shifts when carriers start saying “no” to contracted freight. Rising tender rejection rates signal tightening capacity and often precede spot rate hikes, while falling rates point to softening demand.

Traders and brokers are seizing on arbitrage opportunities.

Spot and tender rejection rates point to a strong tightening in the national truckload market. Is this the end of the freight market recession?

Hurricane Milton was the third large disruptor to transportation markets in three weeks. What happens next?

The truckload market appears to be increasingly stable through a period when it normally isn’t. While the immediate future appears uneventful, the holiday shipping season is anything but certain.

Target Circle 360 leaves The Stockout hosts asking who it is for.

U.S. Xpress is going through a reorganization following a recent round of layoffs. The technology-driven Variant program will be merged into a larger Highway Services group, which will include the legacy over-the-road business and the USX freight brokerage.

FreightWaves’ Top 500 Largest For-Hire Carriers list FreightWaves just released the inaugural Top 500 list of the largest for-hire trucking fleets in the U.S. The ranking is based on tractor count and provides information on fleet size regardless of segment. For example, there is not a distinction between flatbed, LTL or dry van carriers; instead, […]

Contract rates for trucking have been rising since late last year and finally appear to be effecting compliance, but at what cost?

While shortages are being blamed for the bulk of the capacity shortages in transportation, the balance of the movement of goods has become incredibly lopsided.

Carriers are rejecting a disproportionate amount of long-haul freight heading east versus west. Does this dramatic imbalance have long-term implications?

Increasing the time between the request and requested pickup date is supposed to increase your odds of securing capacity. The aggregate data shows the opposite, but there is more than meets the eye.

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.

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?

Tender rejections see a massive spike.

Trucking markets headed back in the right direction

In today’s edition of The Daily Dash, could an influx of capacity drive down spot rates? Plus, ArcBest President Tim Thorne is retiring, and federal regulators consider nixing a vision exemption for CDL holders.

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

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

In today’s edition of The Daily Dash, we take a look at third-quarter earnings with an analyst from KeyBanc. Plus, Hyliion is not recording revenue for its early products and Wall Street is OK with that, and carriers are dominating retail peak season.

In today’s edition of The Daily Dash, OOIDA will back FMCSA in a lawsuit defending hours-of-service changes. Plus, regional carriers could see a strong holiday season and equipment orders are up and that could complicate 2020 rate forecasting.

In today’s edition of The Daily Dash, a potential TRATON-Navistar tie-up moves closer to a conclusion, plus carriers still hold an upper hand in rate negotiations and early earnings results are not what people expected.

Another massive weekly gain in outbound tender load volumes The freight markets continue to accelerate with outbound tender volumes climbing another 7.4% week over week. This has continued to keep truckload capacity tight and it is showing in spot market rates along with a power rating of 85 out of 100 for carriers in the […]

The Independence Day holiday disrupted both our OTVI and OTRI this week. Volumes are poised to bounce back and remain elevated after the moving average distortion is over.

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

“The most critical commodity we trade in with drivers today is hours,” said Norm Thomas of Powerfleet.

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

Long-haul truckers practice social distancing by staying in their sleeper berths, uncertain where their next load will come from as manufacturers and retailers shut down.

Tender rejections are often a leading indicator of spot rates and thus contract rates at a lag.

Freight brokers expect spot rates to ramp this week, but the long-term outlook is uncertain.

“Strawberries are a crop that doesn’t like heat.” Temperatures cracking 90 degrees have pretty much ended Florida’s strawberry growing season.

The coronavirus has made its first impact upon the American economy – the stock market. The novel virus is also impacting import volumes from China and the effect will quickly trickle into the trucking market. It has not yet, but will soon. This week, spot rates bounced back slightly with a bump in outbound volumes. Capacity remains very loose.

More than a foot of weekend snow could hit volatile markets with elevated rejection levels.

This week, the shippers gain pricing power for the 5th time in the first seven weeks of 2020. Volumes are flat, rejection rates are low and rates are even lower.

Rejections, lead times down in southern markets despite snowfall forecast.

In a monotonous week in the freight industry, we believe neither the shippers nor carriers gained any pricing power.

Shippers gain another 5 points of pricing power in this week’s DHL Supply Chain Pricing Power Index.

Tender rejections: Looking into the week, we expect the capacity to continue to loosen as volumes remain at midwinter levels. Occasional surges in demand are not unheard of in February, but they are unlikely to have much impact on capacity. Carriers who operate in California and around the ports need to start thinking about the […]

The ramifications of 2019 will come in the form of shrinking capacity, pushing rates up as supply falls to meet demand instead of dwarfing it.

Diesel fuel price outlook The rack-to-retail spread has widened to more than $1.10/gallon, creating an unearned windfall for trucking carriers. Diesel markets have been sliding in part on an overall decline in oil since the start of the year, but retail is slow to follow. Diesel itself has fallen farther than crude, primarily on fears […]

Despite strong economic data in favor of the carriers, flat volumes and loosening capacity garners a power grab by the shippers.

Outbound volumes and rejections were horizontal this week. Target’s poor earnings are not enough for us to believe the retail sector is in danger of a slowdown, but it is slightly alarming.

A host of issues, from regulations to overcapacity, are coming together to place unanticipated stresses on carriers just as 2020 begins.

Markets from Los Angeles and Ontario to Yuma, Salt Lake City, and Minnesota have suddenly tightened as routing becomes directionally constrained.

Will markets remain tight into the first quarter or soften right after Thanksgiving?

Last Week’s Pricing Power Index: 35 (Shippers) The trucking industry operates in a market based on real-time demand and supply. When demand is higher than capacity, carriers gain negotiating power for rates. When supply is higher than demand,  shippers gain negotiating power for rates.   FreightWaves’ Pricing Power Index uses the analytics and data contained in […]

Capacity has returned to freight markets and spot rates are falling against “contract.”

A colder than normal spring across northwestern Mexico meant the Mexican table grape export campaign suffered a delay of several weeks, spiking demand in June for reefer trucks out of Arizona and south Texas. Coupled with a record-breaking Hermosillo, Mexico-based table grape crop, this year’s export campaign has been a perfect storm of a late […]

Freight volumes recover from Easter lull as volumes are flat from a year-over-year perspective. Comparing load volumes is not the whole story, however.

National freight volumes took a nosedive this week as Easter had a decent impact on the freight market, but how much of the drop is related to the holiday?

FreightWaves adds air temperature information as well as new fleet count data.

The inbound container flows had a big impact to freight volumes in the port cities of Savannah and Los Angeles this past year.

Volumes are flat year-over-year, and after a brief period of disruption the freight market has stabilized. Container volumes that have fueled the port cities freight, may be due to soften in the coming months.

Market volumes remain strong from a year-over-year perspective, driven by the continued strength of the West. What does this imbalance mean for the freight market as the busy season approaches?

L.A. volumes are propping up national freight volume but starting to fade. Are there any signs of another region emerging to take over for the West Coast?

Large markets lost market share and reefer capacity loosened across the Midwest, but some markets look more favorable for carriers.

On today’s episode, Nick Austin and Zach Strickland discuss how winter weather is impacting tender rejections and look at retail sales and ULSD rack prices.

Today on FreightWaves NOW, Nick Austin tells us what’s not going on in the weather, and Zach Strickland tells us what is going on with freight volumes, while cross comparing with tender rejections? With volumes at 2018 levels, why are carriers accepting virtually everything? We also look at market shares across the country. All this and more happening right NOW!

Access to data has improved market transparency, and recent spikes in volatility make the case that transportation costs must be hedged and de-risked.

Brokers at Arrive, Trident, and Avenger told us that capacity is flowing into Southeast markets, pushing down rates in that region, while the PNW and Midwest have tightened up significantly.

A surge in freight from Los Angeles has started to inflect the Dallas and Houston freight markets. Meanwhile, Harrisburg, PA’s strong headhaul score makes that Northeast market a diamond in the rough.

SONAR’s signature index has a birthday; Ocean Network Express to lose $600M; oilfield service companies guide for tight margins in Q3; President Trump bails on coal industry incentives; pros and cons of blockchain in container shipping; spending 60,000 hours reverse-engineering a Tesla Model 3.

FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller, Chief Economist Ibrahiim Bayaan, and Senior Meteorologist Nick Austin discussed Hurricane Florence’s impact on freight, the general macroeconomic situation, and the upcoming IMO 2020 regulations on maritime fuel.

Wall Street is in a panic over fears that the truckload sector has peaked. Wall Street is wrong. We break down the reasons using data from SONAR.

Tender rejections continue to fall towards the May 2nd low, indicating that capacity is loosening in the market. If it reaches the critical level of 19.12%, it could mean that the rest of the summer will be disappointing for carriers that reported a bullish summer outlook.

July has started off slower than carriers would like, showing normal freight patterns. Softer demand is also impacting utilization in the market.