There is never a good time for a Category 4 hurricane to make landfall, but what we heard repeatedly last week was that this hurricane could not have come at a worse time. Transportation networks are constrained by almost too many factors to list and that congestion seems only set to intensify as peak season approaches.
The timing of Hurricane Ida, which took place in the days leading up to Labor Day, made it difficult to separate the hurricane’s impact and the impact of normal seasonality on many of the nationwide data sets. But, the hurricane clearly led to further tightening in the truckload market as FEMA and other recovery efforts contributed to freight demand.
One of the advantages of SONAR is the granularity down to local market levels (referred to as “X-markets” in SONAR). Many local datasets clearly show the impact that the hurricane had on local and regional freight markets. The hurricane had a particularly strong impact on the spot market with surges in both reefer and dry van spot rates in the past week and a half to fresh multi-year highs.
We show the SONAR charts in the following pages not only to say, “Look what a big impact Hurricane Ida had,” but primarily to highlight those datasets we recommend tracking to see how freight networks are recovering.
Members Only
You have selected content that's only available to members of FreightWaves Passport. As a member, you gain immediate access to the most in-depth and informative freight research available. It's your gateway to continuing education.
Members also get:
- Access to exclusive community dedicated to discussing the most important challenges facing freight.
- Monthly and Quarterly Freight Market reports keeping you informed of industry trends.
- Much, much more!
Click below to learn more and sign up today!
Subscribe
Existing Passport subscribers may log in using the form below.
