FreightWaves SONAR Outbound Tender Reject Index (OTRI)

FreightWaves SONAR Outbound Tender Rejection Index (OTRI) is an anonymized measurement of mid-sized to large truckload carriers’ willingness to accept the loads that are offered (or “tendered”)  by shippers. OTRI is an indicator of capacity availability in contracted surface freight markets. It is expressed as a percentage of loads rejected to total loads tendered. This index provides data at a national, regional, state, or market level. Motor carriers reject load requests for two reasons: 1) As demand for freight hauling services exceeds supply, load requests are rejected; 2) If the price of a tendered load is considered too low it is rejected.

Who uses OTRI data?

Shippers, freight brokers, fleet managers, transportation executives, owner-operators, economists, financial analysts, investors and bankers rely on this data. The OTRI dashboards allow supply chain teams to visualize freight movement patterns, volatility, and price movement.

  • OTRI allows carriers to view spot market activity. When spot rates increase, users see an increase in OTRI as carriers decline loads in search of higher-paying freight. When the spot market declines, users observe a decline in OTRI as carriers accept contracted freight.
  • Market volatility leads to higher margins for brokers. OTRI helps brokers make decisions regarding whether to accept or reject loads based on high or low rejection rates.
  • Current trends in OTRI help shippers make decisions on extending or shortening tender lead times to ensure capacity for loads.

What does OTRI tell a user?

OTRI denotes supply and demand dynamics in freight and logistics.

  • High rejection rates indicate high demand relative to trucking capacity.
  • Low rejection rates indicate low demand relative to trucking capacity.

Fluctuations in OTRI correspond to payment rates paid by shippers to carriers. When OTRI is high due to insufficient truckload capacity to meet demand, outbound rates tend to increase.

OTRI measures the relative balance of demand (freight volumes) and supply (trucking capacity). This index symbolizes a strong correlation with macroeconomic factors like goods spending, retail sales, U.S. imports, and industrial production.

FreightWaves SONAR OTRI Data Details

  • Lower 48 states and limited Canada data
  • Based on ~$20B in annual spend on freight hauling services and ~40K daily truckloads
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