Protecting yourself from fraud is more important than ever. Fraud is a changing and complex topic, but we believe in making things simple. We’ve distilled basic fraud protection down to four key areas: Know your customer: We’ll walk you through the steps to ensure you know exactly who you’re interacting with, reducing the risk of…
Futuristic HUD digital graph interface over blurry dark blue background. Concept of stock market and trading. 3d rendering double exposure The holiday season is just around the corner and for freight brokers, that means one thing: it’s about to get busy. As the demand for goods surges during this time of year, freight brokers play…
The American Trucking Association’s seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index fell 1.1% in September after increasing by 0.2% in August. Compared with September 2022, the SA index fell 4.1%, the seventh straight year-over-year (y/y) decrease and the largest over that period. “After hitting bottom in April, tonnage increased in three of the previous four…
My local farmstand proprietor in New England told me last week he had considered not selling Christmas trees this year due to recent drought conditions and the substantial impact on cash flow. In this case, the business owners had to place their 2023 order of trees in August and pay in complete, causing an enormous…
There was some positive news for flatbed demand from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) last week – raw steel production increased by 0.2% w/w and was up 3.8% compared to the same period in 2022. That news fell somewhat flat compared to prior years, including 2018, when flatbed demand came off a robust…
The tomato harvest in the Sacramento Valley has just finished, along with the late harvest of almonds, grapes, onions, figs, olives, and plums. Tomato volumes have been substantial, according to Aaron Giampietro from Morning Star, with an estimated 12.9 million tons for the 2023 five-month season, 15% higher than the five-year annual tonnage. Despite the…
Kevin Yen’s team is stranded in an ancient desert, being hammered by relentless heat and blinding sandstorms. The team’s mission, should they choose to accept it, is to locate the scattered components of an ancient flying machine – its only hope to survive this unyielding and life-threatening ecosystem. Is Kevin an extreme tourist? A death-defying…
We celebrate Halloween this week, and there are signs dry van carriers have benefited somewhat through higher spot market volumes. Of course, these loads were already positioned in freight markets before this week’s big event. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), total Halloween spending is expected to reach a record $12.2 billion. That exceeds…
The title of this entry is a common road trip question and one of the most frequent at DAT Freight & Analytics. Of course, the question concerns the bottom of the freight market. Low freight rates are dragging on for far too long, according to brokers and carriers. On the other hand, shippers have enjoyed…
Against the backdrop of the worsening Middle East crisis, global oil markets are being impacted, driving up oil prices. Many energy firms remained focused on returning money to investors and paying down debt rather than boosting oil and gas production. Going against the trend, energy firms added two oil and natural gas rigs for a…