While truckload capacity is tight across the U.S. this quarter, California experienced a larger-than-average mismatch between demand and supply for both refrigerated and dry vans.
California watchers on TransCore's 3sixty load boards saw load-to-truck ratios soar, with 81 percent more van loads and 45 percent more reefer loads per available truck in California than the U.S. overall average. Unlike most of the country, flatbeds were not in high demand in the Golden State.
Spot market rates were on the rise in September for vans leaving the L.A. basin, as further evidence of this capacity imbalance. TransCore's Truckload Rate Index showed the 30-day rolling average spot market rates actually exceeding contract rates for van loads to Atlanta, Denver and Phoenix. [For additional details, see the continuation of this article in TransCore's Freight Talk blog.]
