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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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 the board for the week beginning May 5, compared to the previous seven-day period. DAT reported:
- Dry van decreased from 3.7 to 3.6 loads per truck
- Reefer decreased from 5.5 to 5.2 loads per truck
- Flatbed decreased from 17.6 to 16.5 loads per truck
"Load post volumes cooled off a little bit last week," DAT iQ Principal Analyst Dean Croke said on a weekly market update, noting they've been relatively flat month over month and up around 4% year over year.
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 varied across equipment types the week beginning May 5, compared to the previous week, per DAT:
- Dry van increased by less than a penny to $1.55
- Reefer decreased by a penny to $1.87
- Flatbed dropped by a penny to $1.99
"We're getting very very very close to year-over-year parity with 2023 in dry van," DAT Chief of Analytics Ken Adamo said on the market update. He said rates over the next week-and-a-half should be interesting.
Spot linehaul rates
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 April by 0.1% to 141, Cass reported. That’s a 3.8% decline year over year.
"This index has been in a very tight range, from 140.4 to 142.0, over the past ten months as the market finds a floor," wrote the report’s author, Tim Denoyer of ACT Research.
Truckload Linehaul Index
Class 8 orders
Preliminary Class 8 net orders increased to 14,000 units in April, up from 12,050 year over year, according to a report from FTR. That's down from March orders of 18,200.
“Despite the month-over-month decline, the fact that orders were up significantly from the April 2023 level indicates that the market is still solid,” FTR's Dan Moyer, senior analyst of commercial vehicles, said in a monthly report.
Class 8 net truck orders in North America
Trailers
Net trailer orders dropped from nearly 20,000 units in February to 12,313 units in March, according to FTR data. That was an 18% drop YoY.
Orders were "25% below the average for the last 12 months," the firm said in a monthly report.
Net U.S. trailer orders
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 decreased 2% in March to 113.4 compared to the previous month when seasonally adjusted. The organization also revised February's figure downward to 115.7.
“Tonnage in March suggests that truck freight volumes remain lackluster, and it is clear the truck freight recession continued through the first quarter,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in a monthly report.