July/August Freight Market Update: Planning for seasonality and market shifts

From the first DOT week with ELDs to unprecedented load-to-truck ratios in California to the start of the summer season, the past few weeks have been overwhelming for many shippers. Companies are paying more than ever to move their products and carriers are failing on loads or rejecting primary freight, leading to a very hot (and expensive) spot market.

However, shippers who are getting creative with their supply chain are alleviating most of the pain everyone else is facing. Below, we’ve listed the best ways to plan for and prevent service failures during seasonality and extreme market swings. Plus, check out this edition of Convoy’s market update to learn more about trends we’re anticipating for the rest of summer.

1. 1. Plan ahead: Planning ahead eases the burden of last-minute service failures for both your carriers and internal teams. Tender loads ahead of schedule and look at historical volumes during peak seasons. In addition, being flexible with rates and facility hours during times of tight capacity can help ensure on-time delivery of production-critical shipments and last minute needs.

1. 1. Be transparent and mindful: Partnering with your carriers is essential in a tight market. Carriers know the market better than anyone, so leverage their knowledge and work with them to find solutions to reduce costs and maintain primary coverage of your freight. Finding common ground with your highest performing providers helps mitigate the risks of rejected freight going straight to the spot market.

1. Get creative: Consider alternate options to optimize your supply chain. This can range from incorporating data and insights into the company strategy and welcoming suggestions from carriers to be more efficient. Capacity crunches will continue to happen and waiting to explore opportunities to hedge your risk can be extremely costly.