Economic forces, consumer demand, seasonality, natural disasters and myriad other factors contribute to transport's cyclical market.
The charts below show the latest data on Class 8 truck orders, trailer orders, monthly tonnage, linehaul rates and load-to-truck ratios. We'll update this page frequently as new data is released.
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Truckload linehaul rates
The Truckload Linehaul Index from Cass measures per-mile linehaul rates. In the chart below, the baseline is 100, which represents conditions in 2005. Rates fluctuate as a result of supply, demand and balance (or a lack thereof) in the market, but they also include factors such as fuel prices and insurance costs.
The index, which includes spot and contract freight, incrementally increased in March by 0.2% to 140.83, Cass reported. That’s a 13.8% decline year over year, but "downward pressure on the larger contract market is lessening," wrote the report’s author, Tim Denoyer of ACT Research.
Truckload Linehaul Index
Load-to-truck ratios
Load-to-truck ratios from DAT Freight & Analytics serve as indicators of supply and demand in the spot market. The ratio is calculated based on the number of load posts compared to the number of truck posts on the DAT One load board. Ratio changes can signal upcoming fluctuations in spot rates.
Load-to-truck ratios decreased across equipment types the week of April 7, compared to the previous seven-day period. DAT reported:
- Dry van increased from 3.5 to just under 4 loads per truck
- Reefer increased from 4.5 to 5.1 loads per truck
- Flatbed decreased from 21.1 to 19.7 loads per truck
"Dry van load post volume regained the ground lost from the prior week, rising by 7% last week. However, volumes remained 2% higher month-over-month," DAT iQ Principal Analyst Dean Croke wrote on a blog post Tuesday. Reefer followed a similar trend, while flatbed load post volumes dropped by 6% as equipment posts decreased by 1%, per DAT data.
Load-to-truck ratios
Spot linehaul rates
DAT’s linehaul rates measure the seven-day weekly moving average for spot rates in dry van, reefer and flatbed hauls. They often reflect the balance of supply and demand in the spot market. The rates are derived from DAT’s RateView database and do not include a fuel surcharge.
National benchmark average rates varied across equipment types the week beginning April 7, compared to the previous week, per DAT:
- Dry van decreased by about 2 cents to $1.54
- Reefer decreased by about 4 cents to $1.80
- Flatbed decreased by 2 cents to $1.98
"After increasing steadily for the prior seven weeks, flatbed linehaul rates leveled off last week," Croke noted.
Spot linehaul rates
Class 8 orders
Preliminary Class 8 net orders decreased 4% year over year in March to 18,200, according to a report from FTR. That's significantly down from February's total of 25,700.
"Order levels in March were below the historical average but remained in line with seasonal trends," FTR Chairman of the Board Eric Starks said in the report.
Class 8 net truck orders in North America
Tonnage
The American Trucking Associations has been tracking tonnage, calculating the index based on member surveys, since the 1970s. In the chart below, the baseline is 100, which represents conditions in 2015. Tonnage primarily reflects freight movement through contracts versus on the spot market.
The ATA Truck Tonnage Index increased 4.3% in February to 116 compared to the previous month when seasonally adjusted. The organization also revised January's figure upward to 111.3.
“February’s level was the highest in a year, yet the index still contracted from a year earlier, suggesting truck freight remains in a recession,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a monthly report.
For-hire truck tonnage index
Trailers
Net trailer orders increased 37% to 21,331 units from January to February, according to FTR data. That was an 18% drop YoY.
“The increase in production coupled with the fall in backlogs resulted in some downward change to the backlog-to-build ratio, which stands at 5.7 months,” FTR Chairman Eric Starks said in a monthly report. “This ratio is right in line with the average level for the last half of 2023 and is slightly below the historical average prior to 2020.”