TORONTO – TransCore Link Logistics’ Canadian spot market recorded a robust start to the New Year, improving upon a noticeable decline in freight market activity in the last quarter of 2018. The return of available workers, post-holidays, was a contributor to the increased capacity and load availability in January.
The end to the United States’ government shutdown may have served as another factor in the increased cross-border freight activity. Weekly load postings in January increased 10 percent following the end of the shutdown compared to the week prior, and an increased number of available border agents may have allowed additional cross-border freight to be moved more quickly and efficiently.
Month-over-month, January’s load volumes ended 31 percent higher than December 2018, but was down 43 percent year-over-year from January 2018’s historical high. Daily load postings on Loadlink were also up four percent compared to last month.
Intra-Canada loads accounted for 27 percent of the total volumes and were down 21 percent year-over-year.
Cross-border load postings represented 71 percent of the data submitted by Loadlink users.
Cross-border activity made up a greater majority of load movement on Loadlink, most likely due to the end of the U.S. government shutdown.
- Loads leaving Canada to the U.S. decreased 58 percent year-over-year, but increased eight percent month-over-month.
- Loads entering Canada decreased 42 percent year-over-year, but increased 58 percent month-over-month.
- Overall, cross-border load postings on Loadlink increased 40 percent from December. This would have accounted for 87 percent of the total load volume increase in January.
Equipment Performance
Continuing from where 2018 left off, January boasted another month of strong equipment performance. January’s equipment postings increased 18 percent when compared to December 2018 and increased 72 percent when compared to January 2018.
Truck-to-Load Ratio
Month-over-month, there was a noticeable shift in the average truck-to-load ratio. January’s numbers declined 10 percent to 2.54 from 2.82 in December. Year-over-year, the average ratio increased 200 percent from 0.85 in January 2018.
About TransCore Indexes
Truckload spot rates in specific areas can be accessed from TransCore’s Rate Index truckload rating tool, and real-time and historical data on total truck and load volumes, as well as ratios in specific areas can be accessed from TransCore’s Posting Index.
TransCore’s Canadian Freight Index accurately measures trends in the truckload freight spot market. The components of the Freight Index are comprised from roughly 6,300 of Canada’s trucking companies and freight brokers; this data includes all domestic, cross-border and interstate data submitted by Loadlink customers.
About TransCore Link Logistics
Looking for a better way to match available freight loads with trucks, TransCore Link Logistics in 1990 developed Loadlink, a load board connecting brokers, carriers, owner operators and private fleets in Canada to a real-time database of 18 million loads, shipments and trucks – the largest in the industry. The monthly Canadian Freight Index now defines the freight movement spot market. The company also provides its customers with dispatch solutions, ACE/ACI eManifest, Posting Index, Rate Index, credit solutions, factoring, an online transportation job board, mileage software and more.
More information on TransCore Link Logistics can be found at www.transcore.ca, @loadlink on Twitter, on YouTube, on Facebook and on LinkedIn.