Freight Rates for April, May, June, and July 2023

Time really does fly when there is a lot to report about in the trucking industry. First, we let details about truck sales for the month fall by the wayside, and now it turns out we have been skimping out on reporting freight rates! Here are the numbers for the last four months for all four metrics of common freight.

April 2023 Rates

• Dry van decreased ten cents to $2.07 per mile.
• Flatbed fell five cents per mile to $2.67.
• Reefer shrunk ten cents to $2.41.
• The average was $2.38, approximately a nine cent decrease.

May 2023 Numbers

• Dry van fell a mere cent to $2.06.
• Flatbed shed two cents to $2.65.
• Reefer bucked the trend of its brothers, increasing five cents per mile to $2.46.
• Reefer hauling’s increase was stronger than the decreases of the other two, and as such the average increased a cent to $2.39.

June 2023 Details

• Dry van had a slight uptick in June, going to $2.08 per mile.
• June continued a streak of decline for flatbed, which was at $2.60 for the month.
• The gap between flatbed and reefer narrowed, as reefer increased to $2.49.
• The average stayed the same from May, at $2.39 per mile.

July 2023 Results

• Dry van retreated back to May 2023 numbers, $2.06.
• July was yet another decline for flatbed, now $2.53.
• Reefer bucked the trend of increased demand in the summer, and fell to $2.43.
• The average fell to $2.34 per mile.

Conclusion

So over the course of the hottest months of the year, the freight rates trended downward. What could be the cause of this? Usually, freight rates increase during the summer months as the slow season has long since ended.

Our hypothesis to explain this is that the honeymoon period of bottled-up demand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is finally over, and consumers, shocked by the increased prices of things compared to even a year ago, let alone three, are slamming the brakes on their purchases, resulting in a lower demand for those goods to be shipped. The preliminary data for August, however, shows potential for the rates to reverse course until the holiday season, where they will almost certainly continue increasing.

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