DAT spot rates: reefer hits $3.70 a mile as diesel prices slip to $6.17

Truck posts on DAT One ran 24% to 34% under year-ago levels while load posts were up 22% to 47%, DAT analyst Dean Croke said, TheTrucker.com reported. Total load posts rose 4% to 2.85 million and equipment posts fell 2% to 171,389. Reefer had the biggest week: load posts jumped 16%, the load-to-truck ratio rose to 19.0 from 15.7 and linehaul gained 9 cents to $2.77. Croke pointed to holiday restocking, Oregon Christmas tree shipments and a short truck supply for apples in the Northwest and citrus in California. Against last year, dry van linehaul stands 35% higher, reefer 34% higher and flatbed 31% higher.

Fuel is a growing share of the rate. DAT puts the fuel surcharge inside the dry van spot rate at 85 cents a mile, 27% of the all-in figure. This week's surcharge used the EIA average of $6.352 for the week of Oct. 26. The EIA's $6.292 reading for Nov. 2 will be used for next week's surcharge, trimming roughly a cent a mile.

At the pump, AAA's national diesel average was $6.172 on Nov. 9, against $3.735 a year earlier, Energy News Beat reported. Brent crude lost roughly $19 a barrel in three trading sessions, but diesel futures fell by about the same dollar amount, so the diesel premium over crude barely moved. U.S. distillate stocks dropped 3.6 million barrels to 99.3 million in the week ended Oct. 30, the EIA reported, and stocks had not been below 100 million since May 2003.

The EIA releases its November Short-Term Energy Outlook on Nov. 10. In October it forecast an average diesel price near $4.50 a gallon for 2027. DAT also flagged tighter capacity in California during Diwali, which peaked Nov. 8, with Stockton among the markets most affected.