This is a weekly series that brings the insights we use to get your shipments from A to B from our carrier sales floor to your home office.

This week Loadsmart’s Capacity Solutions Manager, Jimmy Fahey, breaks down what happened last week and what to expect this week in the freight market in less than 60 seconds.

What We Saw Last Week

• DOE/EIA weekly retail diesel prices rose for the 14th consecutive week. Diesel prices in all markets continue to rise and show no signs of slowing, particularly with the cold weather gripping much of the US. Diesel prices have returned to levels last seen in early March 2020, before the full impact of COVID-19. Demand has remained robust through freight transportation and is ahead of year-ago levels; though domestic gasoline is down 10% and jet fuel down 34%. 
• Federal regulators issued a fourth extension to the HOS waiver that was set to expire on Feb 28th. The exemption to the HOS rules for drivers was first issued on March 12, 2020 in response to the pandemic. The recent extension will go through May 31st and included a new restriction to those operating a vehicle in a condition likely to cause an accident or breakdown and operating a vehicle declared and marked out of service until all repairs have been completed. 
• New weekly unemployment claims pulled back slightly but held at elevated levels last week, and the prior week’s new claims were upwardly revised as the pandemic exerted more pressure on the labor market. Initial claims ended the week of Feb. 6th at 793,000 vs. 760,000 as expected and a revised 812,000 during the prior week. This brought new claims for the week ended Feb. 6 to the lowest level in 5 weeks and, despite last week’s upward revision, the four-week moving average for new claims fell by 33,500 to 823,000. Based on the latest data however, 20.4 million Americans are still claiming benefits of some form, marking an increase of more than 2.5 million from a prior week. 

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This is a weekly series that brings the insights we use to get your shipments from A to B from our carrier sales floor to your home office.

This week Loadsmart’s Director of Carrier Sales, Jordan Abrams, breaks down what happened last week and what to expect this week in the freight market in less than 60 seconds.

What We Saw Last Week

• Winter weather was THE challenge throughout the week as snow came and went across the Midwest and Northeast
• Due to this weather, rejections continued their upward trend even as volume remained flat. But remember, while flat for 2021, volumes are still 40% higher than this time last year
• Nation Rejections increased over 22. To  22.90%. As weather delays and deminishes capacity more tenders will be sent to the spot market for last minute coverage

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This is a weekly series that brings the insights we use to get your shipments from A to B from our carrier sales floor to your home office.

This week Loadsmart’s Director of Carrier Sales, Jordan Abrams, breaks down what happened last week and what to expect this week in the freight market in less than 60 seconds.

What We Saw Last Week

• As van and reefer levels have started to come down, flatbed freight has been making a comeback. Last week, flatbed surpassed van and reefer spot rates, averaging $2.85/mi, while van fell from $2.85 to $2.71/mi.
• This is a return to normalcy, as flatbed freight is typically more costly than dry van, but also shows signs of the broader economy as flatbed is closely tied to industrial production and construction, the former has yet to fully recover from the initial blow of the pandemic.
• A new week and the same story for the ports of Southern California. According to the Marine Exchange of Southern California, there were 33 container ships at anchorages and 26 at berths as of Wednesday last week. Including all ship types, there were 55 vessels at anchorages – a new record, with all Los Angeles/Long Beach anchorages full and all contingency anchorages off Huntington also full.
• Port congestions and bottlenecks have reportedly improved in the past few weeks, but will most likely not get much reprieve during the Chinese New Year as there have been little blank sailing announcements. Compared with last year, trans-Pacific trade blanked 2.1% of total deployed capacity to the West Coast and 3.6% to the East Coast vs. 30.5% and 27.7% respectively last year.

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