Trucking Market: Volumes UP, Diesel Soaring. Is Peak Here?
The freight market is showing its first signs of year-over-year growth in 42 months. Dive into this week’s Sonar update as we break down rising diesel prices, the latest spot rates, and how shipping volumes are signaling a fragile but shifting market as peak season approaches. Understand the key numbers impacting your operations and what […] The post Trucking Market: Volumes UP, Diesel Soaring.…
U.S. diesel prices surged to $6.26 per gallon at the beginning of September, a 33-cent increase from the previous week, according to FreightWaves' Diesel Transaction Spot (DTS) index. This represents a 15% rise above last month's price of $5.45 and a 68% increase from the same period last year, when diesel was $3.72 per gallon. Despite spot rates not keeping pace with the fuel cost surge, the Sonar National Truckload Index (NTI) seven-day average remains 3% above last month and 47% above last year's level.
Freight volumes are showing a fragile but shifting market as peak season approaches, with August Cass Freight Index shipments rising 2.1% year-over-year, marking the first positive reading after 42 consecutive months of declines. Tender rejections are currently at 14%, compared to 5.5% at this time last year, indicating carriers still have significant leverage to decline loads.
The market is described as a "fragile market" with peak season expected to be more seasonally normal than the recent outsized peaks, with rate gains potentially limited by consumer spending rather than truck availability.
Written by urgent.news from FreightWaves's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
