Pre-Holiday Rush Pushes Van Rates Higher

By DAT Solutions

Holiday freight continues to move, and van rates have risen in three of the past four weeks. In the Top 100 van lanes last week, rates increased in 63 of those lanes.

Freight volumes have been building for weeks, and the national average van rate moved up to $1.82 per mile, which is $0.02 higher than October's average. There will be a sense of urgency this week as goods travel their final mile to store shelves before Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Hot Market Maps show the number of available trucks vs. available loads and are available in the DAT Power load board and DAT RateView.

Rising markets and lanes

Seattle and Denver posted strong gains, but rates coming out of those markets are typically low. Rates increased in several other major van markets, including Charlotte, Los Angeles, Memphis, Chicago and Columbus, OH.

• Seattle to Spokane, WA surged 25¢ to $3.29/mi. (The return trip pays equally well if you can find a load in Spokane)
• Charlotte to Buffalo jumped 21¢ to $2.18/mi.
• Denver to Houston increased 16¢ to $1.41/mi.
• Chicago to Atlanta added 16¢ to $2.29/mi.

Falling markets and lanes

Most declines were slight. The biggest drop was on the lane from Denver to Albuquerque, NM, which had risen the week before. Prices out of Dallas were a mixed bag.

• Denver to Albuquerque dropped 14¢ to $1.86/mi., after rising 14¢ the week before
• Dallas to Denver was down 4¢ to $1.98/mi.