ECONOMIC WATCH: Canadian spot market remains strong in November

TORONTO, Ont. – The third week of November saw the highest weekly load totals in Canada’s spot market since the start of the pandemic, according to data from Loadlink Technologies.

The month started strong, holding firm from October tallies, with the first half of November outperforming the latter half of October.

But freight availability surged 13% in the third week of November. Considering the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday followed, Loadlink is expecting November to end flat or slightly above October volumes.

The best performing cross-border lanes for load postings in the first half of November were: Pennsylvania-Ontario; California-Ontario; and Georgia-Quebec.

Domestically, Western Canada enjoyed a bump, with the largest increase coming from the Alberta-Manitoba lane, followed by Alberta-B.C. Other intra-Canada lanes seeing increased volumes included: Ontario-Quebec; Ontario-B.C.; and Quebec-B.C.

The truck-to-load ratio in the first half of November was 3.15, reflecting a 4% reduction in capacity from October. It tightened further to 3.00 in the third week of November thanks to rising freight availability.

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