FreightWaves Releases Tractor Counts And New Air Capacity Index In SONAR

A few months ago, FreightWaves released fleet count data in SONAR based on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA) registrations. Now SONAR users will have access to tractor counts based on fleet size, private, and for hire fleets. Fleet counts are useful in measuring the fragmentation of the industry, but a truer measure of supply is in the number of available tractors registered for use in the U.S.

Monthly tractor counts registered as "for-hire". (SONAR: TCFHMS.USA)

One of the most frequently asked questions asked by transportation industry executives is how much capacity has increased or decreased in a given time period. Given the fact that all drivers and trucks must be registered by the FMSCA, there is a number available, but it is not the easiest to interpret. That is why FreightWaves team of data scientists have studied and cleansed the data in order to provide as pure a number, representative of the market supply as possible.

Tractor counts in SONAR are a monthly measure of the number of Class-8 tractors listed for motor carriers with an active USDOT number provided by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and who report at least 20,000 annual miles or more on their MCS150 form.

Air Cargo Capacity Index

Air cargo represents a small portion of overall freight volume, but a large amount of freight value. It is forecast to increase in size by about 4.3% per year with increasing demand due to the explosion of e-commerce. SONAR users will no have access to historical and future (up to three months) capacity on passenger and freighter flights by market in ton-kilometers.

Outbound air cargo available capacity in ton kilometers for the Elizabeth/Newark, New Jersey market. (SONAR: OACTK.EWR)

The Air Cargo Indices are a measure of the scheduled airline available tonnage capacity for passenger wide body and freighter aircraft serving a market or an airport on an outbound (OACT) and inbound (IACT) basis. It is expressed in metric tons and is calculated for each week forward going out 12 weeks, as well as weekly going back a minimum of one year.

And more…

In addition to the above, SONAR users will also get access to daily average length of haul measures by outbound (OALOHA) or inbound (IALOHA) market. Knowing what type of market characteristics exist (local/regional/long-haul) can make the choice to accept or decline easier. The length of haul indices are based on the daily tender volume data and represent near-time conditions in the markets.

Customs shipments were released a few weeks ago and now will be offered in weekly (WCSTM) and monthly (MCSTM) averages in order to see longer running trends. International trade policy has had an incredible impact on domestic freight patterns in the past year. Being able to monitor port activity on a daily basis will give SONAR users an early signal on shifting freight demand.

Weekly import shipment count to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. (SONAR: WCSTM.LAX)

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