Cold weather, hot rates — #WithSONAR

Why the nation’s wintry blast is not freezing rates

A majority of the U.S. continues to be locked in a deep freeze, and the low temperatures and snowy conditions are putting a squeeze on the freight markets. 

On this episode of #WithSONAR, Luke Falasca and Kyle Taylor look at how rates and capacity are being impacted with major markets like Houston and Dallas being knocked off-kilter. They host Kyle Lintner, principal and managing director of K-Ratio, to share his thoughts on the problems plaguing carriers right now. 

Taylor said it has not been a good week for freight, with a lot of “sitting and waiting” by drivers stranded and shippers trying to move freight. Falasca says freight volumes decreased between 3% and 4%, but tender rejections jumped nearly 10%. 

When it comes to trends, Lintner said that when highly impactful events happen, like severe winter weather or COVID shutdowns, it expedites changes in behavior, which changes trends. He used COVID-19 specifically to highlight consumer changes that led to massive implications for freight markets. 

Lintner said those changes can stick around even after the underlying events are over and linger in freight metrics like spot rates. 

Looking forward, Lintner said the big equalizer for the 2021 market state will come as new truck orders pick up and shippers move to place more capacity online. “We should see spot rate softening at that point,” said Lintner, which will bring markets back to normal levels. 

You can find more #WithSONAR episodes and recaps of all our live podcasts here.

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Kaylee Nix

Kaylee Nix is a meteorologist and reporter for FreightWaves. She joined the company in November of 2020 after spending two years as a broadcast meteorologist for a local television channel in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Kaylee graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2018 and immediately made the Tennessee Valley her home. Kaylee creates written summaries of FreightWaves live podcasts and cultivates the social media for FreightWaves TV.