TransCore Link Logistics Canadian Freight Index began 2015 by picking up where 2014 left off – with high spot market load volumes. Though month-over month and year-over-year load volumes decreased one and 18 percent, respectively, January set the second-highest recorded volumes compared to the same month in any year.
Noticeable shifts in cross-border load volumes coming into Canada were observed in Ontario and in Western regions. Compared to December 2014 loads coming into Ontario increased seven percent, and loads coming into Western Canada decreased significantly by 24 percent.
Cross-border load volumes averaged 73 percent of the total, an increase of three percent compared to December 2014. Year-over-year, cross-border loads leaving and entering Canada to and from the United States decreased eight and 20 percent, respectively.
Intra-Canada load volumes represented 23 percent of the total volumes for January and decreased 19 percent year-over-year.
Equipment postings were up seven percent month-over-month and eight percent year-over-year. The equipment-to-load ratio increased to 1.79 from 1.66 in December, and from 1.36 in January 2014.
Real-time and historical data on total truck and load volumes, as well as ratios in specific areas can be accessed from TransCore’s Posting Index.