Spot Freight Availability Doubles in December

Spot market freight availability on TransCore load boards in December 2009 rose by 103% year over year, to twice the level achieved in the same month of 2008. Freight volume also exceeded November levels by 11% on the North American spot market (United States and Canada), according to the TransCore Freight Index, a measure of truckload freight volume found on load boards supported by the DAT Network.

The positive year-over-year comparison results from an unusually strong month in spot market freight contrasted with the extreme weakness of December 2008, and marks 10 consecutive months of upward trends on TransCore load boards.

December’s ratio of 2.65 loads posted per available truck was 145% higher than the load-to-truck ratio for December 2008. This strong increase is largely due to the combination of improving load volumes and prior year excess truck capacity that caused carriers to post available trucks more aggressively than seasonal norms.

Although December is typically one of the weaker months for spot freight, it emerged as the strongest month in 2009, surpassing even June and September.