Cass Truckload Linehaul Index

A Measure of Market Fluctuations in Truckload Costs

As the nation’s largest payer of freight bills, Cass manages more than $22 billion annually in freight spend, enabling Cass to compile meaningful logistics data that serves as an indicator of transportation industry trends. The Cass Truckload Linehaul Index™ is a measure of market fluctuations in per-mile truckload linehaul rates, independent of additional cost components such as fuel and accessorials.

March 2013

Truckload linehaul rates fell 1.3% from February to March, compared to an average month-to-month decrease of about .6%. Year-over-year, rates are up 3.9%.

Supply and demand seem to remain relatively balanced. While truck tonnage was up year over year each quarter of 2012, it “grew at a slower rate in each quarter,” according to analyst Donald Broughton. He added that “although tonnage has rebounded modestly to start 2013, we believe the effects of contractionary fiscal policy are likely to weigh on demand” for at least the first half of 2013.

View data points from 2005-present.

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Index Definition

The Cass Truckload Linehaul Index is an accurate, timely indicator of market fluctuations in per-mile truckload pricing.

The index isolates the linehaul component of full truckload costs from other components (e.g. fuel and accessorials), providing an accurate reflection of trends in baseline truckload prices.

Data within this unique index is derived from actual freight invoices paid on behalf of Cass’ clients, which totaled over $22 billion in 2012. The index uses January 2005 as its base month.

Cass partners with the securities analyst firm Avondale Partners LLC to publish this Index. View the independent Avondale report that explains how the index was created and the validation measures the data was subject to. 

Other Transportation Indexes from Cass

Cass also furnishes the Cass Intermodal Linehaul Index, measuring fluctuations in base intermodal rates, and the well-known Cass Freight Index, which reports each month on North American freight volumes.

 
Contact:
Frank Cirimele
314-506-5882
fcirimele@cassinfo.com