CCJ’s Indicators rounds up the latest reports on trucking business indicators on rates, freight, equipment, the economy and more.
DAT cites lower demand for for-hire trucking services on the spot market, with demand for van sliding 38 percent, demand for reefer falling 34 percent and demand for flatbed declining 22 percent from the same month last year.
Likewise, rates followed suit year over year. Van rates were down 16 percent compared to last April, while reefer and flatbed were down 12 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
Compared to March 2016, van rates in April declined 1.5 percent, reefer rates fell 0.6 percent and flatbed rates rose 1.2 percent.
Diesel in U.S. projected to stay below $3 through 2017: The price for a gallon of on-highway diesel in the U.S. is projected to average $2.27 this year and climb to $2.64 next year, according to the latest edition of the Department of Energy’s Short Term Energy Outlook.
Diesel prices plummeted last year, falling below $3 and then sinking below $2 for the first time in nearly a decade.