My favorite meme this week perfectly encapsulates what I think we’re all feeling: “What a year this week has been”. The radical shift we’ve seen in the market comes as a surprise to many and has, once again, blown up any assumptions around freight rates for 2020.
Some of the largest transportation markets in the country have experienced rapid volume growth in the past two weeks. (Source: FreightWaves Sonar reported volumes 3/17/2020)
-
Atlanta, GA: +20.6%
-
Harrisburg, PA: +42.9%
-
Ontario, CA: +19%
-
Dallas, TX: +33.2%
-
Allentown, PA: +48.8%
In the same two-week period, Ruan’s Brokerage Services has seen March shipment count forecast increase 36%. Available freight in the spot market for retail shippers has increased five-fold. Couple all of this with the massive drop in oil and we are facing unprecedented change.
With all of that said, Ruan is taking some key actions to help our customers weather the storm regardless of its duration.
-
Taking measures to support operations remotely where needed so we are 100% staffed across our network, including weekends
-
Assessing the spot market to see where we can provide better contracted rates that will offer stability to our customers
-
Ramping up additional power-only capacity to support surging volumes with private and dedicated fleets
-
Ensuring we meet our existing capacity obligations
With so much uncertainty, it is critical that we work transparently with our shipper partners to offer predictability in cost and service. Our commitment to utilize reliable and safe partner carriers, in addition to our existing asset capacity, is unchanged and we can all be confident in meeting consumer needs for critical supplies across the country.