Of the thousands of dry van destinations, 10 stood above the rest. For various reasons, these are the top 10 dry van markets of 2022. Do these surprise you?
But first, what exactly is a dry van?
If you imagine a truck and trailer, you’ve probably got the image of a dry van truck in your head. The classic long metal box being pulled behind a trailer is its own slice of Americana, and for good reason – the vast majority of freight moved travels in dry van trucks.
Dry van trucks are the most popular options for a few basic reasons: they’re versatile, they offer protection, and they’re affordable. You can ship almost anything in a dry van truck – clothes, produce, furniture, consumer goods, auto parts, heavy machinery, you name it, it’ll travel in a dry van. The name gives us another clue that showcases the trailer’s versatility: it keeps what’s inside dry and protected from the elements. Because these trailers are so popular and don’t require additional special licenses to operate, they’re readily available and affordable.
Where does this information come from?
Over $137B in freight invoices create the DAT iQ database, the largest in the industry. Those that share data to create the database, in turn, can compare themselves to their competition. This data is flipped and reorganized into RateView Analytics, the industry’s premier pricing tool.
DAT’s analytics platform is a perfect partner for DAT One, the nation’s largest truckload marketplace. With these two tools working in sync, we dug in and found the nation’s top 10 dry van markets between both spot and contract freight shipments:
- Atlanta, GA
- Dallas, TX
- Chicago, IL
- Los Angeles, CA
- Fort Worth, TX
- Ontario, CA
- Joilet, IL
- Houston, TX
- Columbus, OH
- Charlotte, NC
Where can you get insights like this?
Like we mentioned before: this data is not kept secret. We help thousands of the nation’s top industry pros transform their businesses day in and day out. DAT users don’t guess when they make decisions, they know exactly what they’re getting into because we give them the data. There shouldn’t be any guesswork in logistics.
How do they do it? We’ll let you in on their secret. They use DAT’s suite of tools and resources like:
DAT iQ – DAT iQ is a library of resources that guide big, bold decisions across the industry. With benchmark analytics that show professionals how they fare against the competition, dynamic budget-building tools, and RFP and routing guide evaluation capabilities, industry pros have a toolbox working for them that emboldens confident business decisions. Within DAT iQ, there’s one especially powerful tool shippers, carriers, and brokers alike use to optimize operations. That’s RateView.
RateView – Pricing is a headache, but not with RateView. RateView shows professionals rates from across the country so they can compare them. With that knowledge, they know they’re competitiveC. But even better than that, they get a look at powerful predictive analytics that forecast what rates will be in the future. How do they know they’re competitive? It’s because they’re looking at over 7 million daily predictions and 13-month pricing histories. Industry data sets don’t reach that level of granularity outside DAT.
DAT’s Market Updates Blog – Even if you don’t pay for DAT’s software, we’re still committed to helping you out. DAT’s in-house experts analyze the same datasets and write in-depth articles outlining the implications for your business. These articles are free to everyone, and allow the sharpest analysts in the industry to share what they see with you.
DAT’s Weekly Trendlines – Similar to our Market Updates blog, our analysts give you a free macro look at the industry each week. These are great, bite-sized temperature checks of teh industry. You’ll find quick looks at the week’s fuel prices, spot loads posted, spot load trucks available, national averages for van, flatbed, and reefer spot rates, a weekly brief that gives an expert’s take on what we’re seeing, and another collection of resources at the bottom where you can learn more about those trends.
DAT iQ Live – Every week on YouTube and LinkedIn, these same experts host a live discussion breaking down the industry. Like our weekly trendlines, they’ll discuss what the industry is up against, the factors contributing to the market conditions, and solutions professionals can pursue to capitalize on opportunities.
Check out Freight Focus, our annual report
Freight Focus, our annual report, is DAT’s year in review. We put our heads together and wrote a high-level overview of 2022, and once we found the trends that defined the year, discussed how they might affect 2023. We’ll make a host of predictions so that the future is a bit more certain. Click here to read the report.
If you look at the above list and fear you’re in the wrong market, that’s not the case. You don’t need to be in these cities to find trucks or freight. With DAT, you’re not restricted by where your headquarters is – you can find freight or trucks wherever you are. DAT’s LoadBoard is the industry’s largest, most used, and most up-to-date.
Ready to get going? Click here to find them.
