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📡 Freight Market Intelligence

📊 Freight Market Conditions Interpreter 🇺🇸 US · v1

Enter the freight indicators you can see and get a plain-language market read — tightening, loosening, transitional, or supply-constrained — plus rate positioning context. All inputs are yours to enter; QuicklyFig supplies none of them.

Market Signals — all optional, all user-entered, no defaults
Source: FreightWaves SONAR. Enter your own value only. QuicklyFig does not provide this figure.
FreightWaves SONAR — enter your value only, from your own subscription or broker. Leave blank if unavailable.
Source: FreightWaves SONAR. Enter your own value only. QuicklyFig does not provide this figure.
FreightWaves SONAR — enter your value only, from your own subscription or broker. Leave blank if unavailable.
Latest value vs. prior month or prior year. FRED FRGSHPUSM649NCIS → (monthly, free)
FRED PCU484121484121 →
FRED PCU484122484122 →
EIA Weekly On-Highway Diesel → (weekly, free)
e.g., +0.12 or -0.08
Overall goods-sector economic direction. BEA Real Goods GDP (FRED) → (quarterly)
Your Rate Context — optional
Need your cost floor? Calculate it with the Break-Even Rate Calculator or Per-Mile Cost Calculator, then enter the result below.
🔗 What to Watch Next — Primary Sources
Confirm current figures directly from these sources before making any business decisions:
Educational Tool — Not Advice The Freight Market Conditions Interpreter is an educational tool that organizes publicly available freight indicators and the values you enter into a plain-language summary. It is not financial, investment, business, trading, or legal advice, not a rate quote, and not a prediction or guarantee of future rates or market conditions. OTRI and OTVI are proprietary indices of FreightWaves SONAR; QuicklyFig does not provide, license, or reproduce them — any such values shown here are ones you entered yourself. Always confirm current figures with the primary sources (FRED, BLS, EIA, Cass Information Systems) and make your own business decisions. US market only (v1). QuicklyFig is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or in partnership with FreightWaves, Cass Information Systems, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
How the Interpreter Works

The Freight Market Conditions Interpreter maps the public freight signals you enter to one of four plain-language market reads based on the relationships between rate pressure, freight volume, and cost pressure. It uses no live data, no proprietary indices, and makes no predictions.

The Four Market Reads

Tightening: Rate indicators (TL/LTL PPI) are rising while freight volume (Cass) is soft — flat or falling — and diesel is up. Capacity is being absorbed faster than volume warrants. Rate pressure has upward momentum from the supply side.

Loosening: Rate indicators are flat or falling while freight volume is rising. Capacity is outpacing demand growth, giving shippers more negotiating leverage. Diesel is typically stable or declining in this environment.

Supply-Constrained: Rates are rising while freight volume is actually falling and diesel is up. This is a supply-side story — capacity is leaving the market (carrier exits, cost pressure) faster than demand is contracting. Rate increases in this environment are not demand-driven.

Transitional / Mixed: Signals conflict or are insufficient for a clear read. Common at turning points in the freight cycle. The coherence note explains the ambiguity.

Signal Logic

Three core signal groups drive the read: rate pressure (TL PPI, LTL PPI), freight volume (Cass Shipments), and cost pressure (diesel). OTRI and OTVI, when entered from your own subscription, add confirmation weight. GDP goods direction provides macro demand context. The more signals you enter, the more grounded the read.

OTRI and OTVI are proprietary indices owned by FreightWaves SONAR. QuicklyFig does not supply, reproduce, or distribute them. If you have access to SONAR or receive these figures from a broker, you may enter them yourself — they remain your data throughout.

Frequently Asked Questions
What is OTRI and where do I get it?
OTRI (Outbound Tender Rejection Index) is a proprietary FreightWaves SONAR index measuring the percentage of electronic freight tenders that carriers reject. It is a widely cited signal of carrier capacity tightness. QuicklyFig does not provide OTRI values. To use this field you need a FreightWaves SONAR subscription, or a broker who shares the current reading with you. If you don't have it, leave the field blank — the interpreter will produce a read from the public signals you do enter.
Where do I find Cass Shipments, TL PPI, and LTL PPI?
All three are free and public on FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data). Cass Shipments: FRGSHPUSM649NCIS. TL PPI: PCU484121484121. LTL PPI: PCU484122484122. These update monthly. For directional trend, compare the most recent release to the prior month or prior year.
Is this rate advice? Should I use this to set my rates?
No. This tool produces educational context only — not rate advice, not a rate quote, not a load decision tool. The rate positioning section compares your entered rate to your entered floor in the context of the market read; it never tells you what rate to charge or accept. Rate decisions involve your specific lanes, your costs, your relationships, and real-time market conditions that this tool cannot see.
Is this data live or real-time?
No. This tool contains no live data. All values come from what you enter. Cass Shipments and PPI data from FRED update monthly with a lag of 4–6 weeks. EIA diesel updates weekly. The read reflects the signals you entered at the time you ran the tool — it is a snapshot interpretation, not a live dashboard.
Why does the tool sometimes say Transitional when I enter several signals?
Transitional means the signals you entered point in different directions, which is a real and common market condition — especially at turning points in the freight cycle. The coherence note explains exactly which signals are conflicting and why. Forcing a single verdict when signals conflict would produce a misleading read. Transitional is the honest answer in those situations.
Why US only in v1?
The public indicator stack that powers this tool — Cass Shipments, TL/LTL PPI, EIA diesel — is US-based and monthly/weekly, giving the tool a strong operational cadence. Canadian data (StatCan for-hire carrier price index) is quarterly and national-level. Mexican data (INEGI/CANACAR) is annual. A Canada-specific read is planned for a future version within QuicklyFig's existing Canada vertical.
Required Disclaimer The Freight Market Conditions Interpreter is an educational tool that organizes publicly available freight indicators and the values you enter into a plain-language summary. It is not financial, investment, business, trading, or legal advice, not a rate quote, and not a prediction or guarantee of future rates or market conditions. OTRI and OTVI are proprietary indices of FreightWaves SONAR; QuicklyFig does not provide, license, or reproduce them — any such values shown here are ones you entered yourself. Always confirm current figures with the primary sources (FRED, BLS, EIA, Cass Information Systems) and make your own business decisions. US market only (v1). QuicklyFig is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or in partnership with FreightWaves, Cass Information Systems, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or the U.S. Energy Information Administration.