SONAR Sightings for June 13: National Truckload Index Daily, Container Atlas, more

• Since February, spot rates in this lane have been dropping in unison with the national average, but now rates have begun to dip even lower. In May as the national average began to hit a floor and plateau, rates from Chicago to Dallas continued to fall. They still appear to be doing so, currently 32 cents less than the national average and still on a downward trend.
• After rising back up following a drop during the Memorial Day holiday, OTVI for Chicago is still down 12% in the past 90 days, with rejections at 6.6% in the past 30 days. That indicates that the Chicago market is trying to hold strong and consitent despite the national drop in volume.
• At the end of the road, Dallas’ OTVI has dropped 8% in the past three months to 413.4 bps (still higher than other hubs such as LA or Chicago), but has 6.8% worth of tender rejections. That is a  good number to verify that the chances of booking a load on the way out are high.

Watch: Carrier update

Maritime lane to watch: China to US

As all eyes are on these two economic superpowers, it is only fitting to begin this new section with them.

Updated weekly, SONAR Container Atlas currently has spot market rates per 40-foot equivalent unit (FEU) from Shanghai to the port of LA at $8,613, and $10,722 to the port of New York. These rates have remained consistent in the past month after seeing roughly a $2,000 drop in each since the beginning of March.

For related articles on volumes between China and US, click here

Overall 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) volume from China to the U.S. has dropped 36% since this time last year, with booking volumes following the trend and dropping 22% in the same time period and booking lead-times at a historic low of approximately eight days.