Stepping Out With My Own Numbers

This is the new Hankook DL12 Super single. It has 3D sipes and at the bottom of each door is a tear drop groove to help with water once it’s worn down.

 

Now that I have a truck doing flatbed work and researching it. Flatbed confuses me. It seems that high load to truck ratios don’t translate into high rates on the spot market. I’ve been looking at some of the hot spots on DAT, hundreds of loads posted in a particular point within 150 miles, and the rates are lower than I can get with a reefer. I don’t understand that? Flatbed also has the luxury that the carriers that occupy those top 100 lists are much smaller than dry van or reefer, indicating greater fragmentation. None of it seems to equal big rates. This truck is leased on with PGT, and so far, he’s averaged 1.76 on all miles. I haven’t had good revenue yet, but now that I ave the Volvo back it should be normal. He’s only been there three weeks solo, so revenue should approach normal next week. I’m thinking leasing on with a carrier in the flatbed segment is better than using your own authority.

 

Some of these flatbed ratios are already 12+:1. When reefer starts getting to 7+:1 the rates definitely show it. It seems reefer is very sensitive to the load to truck ratio and flatbed doesn’t seem to react to it unless it outrageous. At the peak in 2017 I think flatbed was almost 100:1, and even the rates weren’t all that different from reefer. I think reefer has the upper hand because the customer doesn’t have the luxury to wait. That piece of equipment or steel can wait, the fresh meat or produce can’t, it HAS to go.

 

probably has something to do with it. It still surprises that even hundreds of load postings in a 150 mile radius of a hot market, the rates aren’t very impressive. Maybe once some of these infrastructure projects start moving that will change. Those are more time sensitive, and the big manufacturers are back up to speed that rely on JIT shipments.

 

Finally moving today, got a load to SD, then SD to WI for Friday and get big money there heading East. I showed up at the chicken plant in Fort Smith, a train has the entrance blocked, sat there for 30 minutes and a guy walked over and said I could use his lot to turn around to get in the back way, check in at both docks and can’t find my load, they send me to their cold storage, they have nothing either, called the broker to figure out where the Hell Im supposed to be. Turns out I had the wrong PU number on the rate con AND shipping did not put the order in their system. Come back to the plant, and finally get loaded. Still have one more stop to get back in Fayetteville so I can get going. It seems every time I leave from home things snowball on the first day out.