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The content below is for intermodal freight brokers interested in utilizing the DrayNow spot market. For brokers interested in securing intermodal drayage service for their recurring lanes, please feel free to reach out to us via contact form.

For a look at last month’s data on intermodal spot rates, click the link here.

In the final month of the year, intermodal spot rates on the DrayNow app were up in the Atlanta and Chicago markets while decreasing in the Los Angeles market. Compared to the start of 2023, the average spot rate in each market is now lower. Taking a look at the year as a whole, it appears that spot rate trends were at similar levels of volatility in 2023 as they were in 2022.

Intermodal spot rates in the Chicago market were up 3% compared to last month. This increase does not offset the major decrease we saw last month that brought average spot rates in this market to a year low. Rates were still lower in December than a majority of the year. Compared to December 2022, spot rates are down 31%.

The Atlanta market saw the highest spot rate increase in December, rising 14%. Rates in this market did a complete boomerang, as just last month they dropped 14%. These rates are also now even higher than what it costs to move freight in Chicago. Compared to the same time last year, spot rates in Atlanta are 9% lower than December 2022.

The cost to move intermodal spot freight in Los Angeles dropped for the third week in a row, this time with a 1% decrease. The continuous decrease in drayage spot rates in Los Angeles did not affect the average rate too much, as they are still above average compared to the rest of the year. In December, spot rates in this market were also closest to the same time in the previous year, down only 3% in December 2023.

The cost to move intermodal freight was a lot lower in 2023 than what we saw in 2022, which was apparent in every key market on the DrayNow platform. This is primarily due to the industrywide decline in volume that started in 2022 and continued through 2023. With an optimistic 2024 forecast for domestic intermodal volumes, it will be intriguing to see what that will do to the cost of moving freight.