The Dallas market serves as a bellwether of how transportation networks impacted by Winter Storm Fern are recovering. Via the Weighted Rejection Index, SONAR shows that changes in Dallas freight market conditions in the past week had a bigger impact on the national freight market than any other local market.
The reefer market in Dallas was particularly impacted by the weather, with the reefer outbound tender rejection rate rising to 26.5%, well ahead of 18.5% national rate. That could have been driven by shippers looking to secure temperature-controlled capacity in case of widespread power outages.
Dallas outbound tender volume increased 15% week over week and is well above the mid-point of its 52-week range, which is unusual for late January. That suggests that some shippers moved shipments earlier in anticipation of shutting down during the storm. The Dallas Headhaul Index of 88.2 is at its highest level since early fall, suggesting that shippers moved goods out of the region and also cut back on moving goods into the region.
