Everybody in the trucking industry was anticipating the huge June freight surge. But guess what? It wasn’t quite the load that had been discussed by industry insiders. In fact, it was significantly less that people had prepared themselves for. Ultimately, the freight burden was quite manageable.

As it turns out, freight volumes are actually in a pretty healthy place. In fact, they’re at their highest level since last summer. Nevertheless, that’s actually a full six percent lower than this same period in 2018. Still, spot rates jumped this month in Los Angeles as well as Atlanta. Conversely, these rates are starting to decrease as capacity returns to the market after Road Check Week.

“In the reefer world, this week Georgia is getting cheaper – we’re definitely seeing rates come back to earth out of Georgia,” said Michael Feig, the chief operating officer at White Plains, the New York-based Capital Logistics.

Feig went on to add, “Arizona is not as tight as it was; we’re able to source equipment at more reasonable rates.”

It should be noted, however, that Arizon remains one of the rare places where Capital is receiving substantial secondary work. In fact, reefer tender rejections from Tucson are more elevated than the current national average.

Right now it looks like some markets are still reeling from Road Check week. Basically, freight brokerages with huge capacity of contracted freight had to decide among two choices. They either honored commitments to their shipper or rejected the load due to fear of the market increasing for trucking capacity after it had spent months in the dumps.

Many of the brokerage firms decided to carry the freight regardless of the current climate. After all, they felt rejecting the load could cost them customers.