The October edition of the DAT Truckload Volume Index (TVI), which was recently issued by DAT Freight & Analytics, posted mixed readings, in terms of volumes and linehaul rates.
The DAT Truckload Volume Index reflects the change in the number of loads with a pickup date during that month, with the actual index number normalized each month to accommodate any new data sources without distortion, with a baseline of 100 equal to the number of loads moved in January 2015. It measures dry van, refrigerated (reefer), and flatbed trucks moved by truckload carriers.
DAT’s data highlighted the following takeaways for truckload volumes, load-to-truck ratios, and rates, for the month of October, including:
“The van TVI was 2.3% higher compared to last October, the first year-over-year increase in a monthly TVI since September 2021,” said DAT Chief of Analytics Ken Adamo in a statement. “It’s a positive sign for freight carriers and brokers, but the expectation is for a seasonal bump as opposed to a sustained recovery of volumes and pricing.”
In a recent interview with LM, Adamo said the TVI data, in recent months, is reflective of market conditions that have been intact for all of 2023, and it resembles 2019, in that the year kicked off at a bottoming of the market and remained there for the entire year.
“From a carriers’ perspective, things like fuel prices and low rates are squeezing them and they are not seeing the volume that they would need; it is kind of like the three legs of the stool,” he said. “And if you are a broker, this is kind of the scariest part of the entire freight cycle for brokers, because it has been bad for carriers for a while. Brokers on the other hand, as the market is falling, they actually see a little bit of a margin expansion once things have arrived to the bottom and stayed there, which is when their margins compress the most and is the shortest portion of the freight cycle. It is the most dire if you're a brokerage, especially a brokerage that's not making any money.”