US spot van, reefer rates fall for fourth straight month in April
Truckload volumes dropped in April 2023 and van and reefer load-to-truck ratios fell to levels last seen in the spring of 2020, DAT reported.
In May 2023, DAT Freight & Analytics reported that truckload volumes declined in April and that national average spot rates for dry van and refrigerated loads fell for the fourth month in a row.
Volumes at two-year lows
DAT's Truckload Volume Index fell for all three equipment types. The van index was 206, down 15.5% from March and 12.3% from a year earlier. The reefer index was 154, down 16.3% from March and 12.5% year over year. Flatbed was 239, 13.7% below March but 3.5% higher than April 2022.
DAT said a March-to-April drop was not unusual. But the van and reefer readings were the lowest since February 2021, when a polar vortex and severe winter storms disrupted logistics across much of the U.S. and Canada.
Weaker demand, lower rates
Load-to-truck ratios also fell. The van ratio was 1.9, down from 2.0 in March and 3.4 a year earlier. The reefer ratio was 2.7, compared with 6.3 a year earlier. DAT said the last time the van and reefer ratios were that low was May and April 2020, respectively.
The national average spot van rate was $2.06 a mile, down 10 cents from March and 71 cents from a year earlier. Reefer fell 9 cents to $2.41, and flatbed dipped 4 cents to $2.67.
Line-haul rates, which exclude a fuel surcharge, kept falling: $1.59 a mile for van, $1.89 for reefer and $2.10 for flatbed. Diesel averaged $4.10 a gallon, 11 cents lower than in March.
A wide spread
Contract rates also declined, but the gap between contract and spot rates rose to near all-time highs: 62 cents for van, 60 cents for reefer and 66 cents for flatbed.
Ken Adamo, DAT's chief of analytics, said May would be "pivotal" for shippers, brokers and carriers. He called the spot-contract spread "an indicator of where we're at in the freight cycle."
What it meant for carriers
Adamo said two things had to happen for the gap to close: fewer trucks on the spot market, which he said meant more carriers leaving, and more demand from shippers with more loads than planned. He noted that in 2016 and 2019, the spot market entered a recovery phase in the third week of May. An uptick in demand before Memorial Day, he said, would be "a welcome sign for owner-operators and small carriers" heading into summer and fall.