ORLANDO, Fla. — American Trucking Associations announced an agreement with load board operator DAT to add spot market freight and rate information to the trade association’s monthly activity report and other products.
The move is intended to supplement ATA’s industry reports such as its tonnage index.
“We’ve always prided ourselves in being a leader in information about the state of the trucking industry,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said in an Oct. 20 statement issued as ATA’s annual Management Conference & Exhibition convened here. “By adding DAT’s data on the spot market for freight, we’ll be able to provide an even more complete picture of the country’s dominant industry for goods movement.”
DAT, a unit of TransCore in Portland, Ore., is providing information on spot market trends for a total of $24 billion in freight transactions, which represents about 8% of the total truckload market. The rate report includes $13 billion in spot transactions and $11 billion in contract freight.
“Our relationship with ATA reflects our evolution as a business supplying actionable information to the trucking industry,” DAT Senior Vice President David Schrader said.
As part of the relationship, DAT will provide ATA with its U.S. spot market freight index, an early indicator of truckload freight trends. That index is based on exception freight not under long-term contract to carriers, based on an average of 90 million loads and trucks annually for vans, refrigerated trailers and flatbeds.
In addition, DAT will provide its spot market truckload rate index, which is based on $13 billion of contract transactions and $11 billion of spot transactions from carriers, shippers and brokers of vans, refrigerated and flatbed freight.
