Freight market volatility derives from numerous factors, from the weather through the elections, that may lead to changing transportation and trucking freight rates for any/all markets. To understand the real trucking rate, freight management parties must realize the limits of traditional spot versus contracted freight strategies. They must look beyond the broad view and see how granular data contributes to everything surrounding contracts, spot rates, accessorials and more.
True trucking rate benchmarking must also consider these factors:
Understanding the spot market deviation and trucking rate impact hold value in rebalancing the use of freight services and meeting changes within the market. Key points to remember when it comes to spot rate deviations include:
Relying on trucking rate data in the context of the whole supply chain and opportunities for savings is essential to making the most of freight services’ use. Top indices that make this possible include:
The shipping industry needs
a new metric – the Market Rate –
to end the spot vs contract battle
Rebalancing the types of bids used can help a company ensure its trucking rates are reflective of industry trends, so spend can be kept under control. Types of freight bidding processes powered by freight and trucking rates’ data include:
Differences of opinion exist on this topic. Any company can engage to rebid through any means. However, an ill-timed bidding process could do more harm than good. FreightWaves’ experts recommend only engaging in a new bidding process if the disruption lasts for a period of at least 30 days. It’s at this point when shippers begin to move more freight into the spot market, resulting in higher trucking rates due to limited capacity.
Regardless of what these trends typically reveal, the biggest takeaways are the same: