At Shaker Logistics, we’re constantly monitoring industry conditions to help our customers understand how market forces impact available truckload capacity and rates.

Some factors repeat seasonally or every year, and we can expect and plan around them. Produce-driven states, like Texas and Florida, for example, tend to see capacity tighten in the spring when food is ready to be harvested and shipped across the country. Also in the spring, as construction season begins in much of the country, rates go up and capacity gets squeezed for open-deck equipment, which is frequently used to ship building materials.

Our team at Shaker Logistics has deep knowledge of and experience with these cyclical and expected changes in the freight markets and has strategies in place to work through them to ensure we can move freight for customers no matter the season.

In our home market of Albany, New York, we also closely watch non-seasonal changes to the market, and what we’re seeing so far in 2021 indicates that truckload capacity is expected to be very tight for the foreseeable future. In Albany, outbound freight volumes have increased steadily since the end of 2020, and more freight is leaving the area than coming into it. That means there are more loads leaving than trucks available to take them, and it drives spot market freight rates upward.

Of course, we don’t just ship in and out of Albany, and as a result our team monitors ALL major freight markets — we have tools available to us that let us slice and dice hundreds of metrics across all geographies. We work to interpret and share this data and insight with our customers so that they understand how it impacts their own businesses.

If you’re a shipper struggling to understand how and why market conditions are impacting your ability to ship goods, get in touch with us! We are happy to share our expertise to help you Move Ahead.