IN Brief:
- SONAR has added Flatbed and less-than-truckload views to its National Insights dashboard and updated the existing truckload view with blended datasets.
- Flatbed indicators include tender rejections, volume, fuel, spot rates, market movements, and mapped capacity conditions.
- LTL data provides rates by region, distance band, and freight class, together with historical trends and regional comparisons.
SONAR has expanded its National Insights freight intelligence dashboard with dedicated flatbed and less-than-truckload (LTL) datasets, allowing subscribers to examine conditions across different sections of the US road freight market. The update also moves the existing Truckload National Insights view onto the company’s blended datasets, combining rates, volumes, capacity indicators, and regional comparisons within the same interface.
The additional Flatbed and LTL tabs became available on 9 November. National Insights provides predefined views of freight conditions without requiring subscribers to enter individual data ticker symbols. The changes extend a dashboard previously centred on truckload indicators to transport markets with different equipment requirements, shipment structures, and pricing mechanisms.
The Flatbed tab includes tender rejections, tender volumes, fuel prices, and spot freight rates. It also incorporates Weekly Top Moving Markets and the TRAC Spot Market Conditions Map, allowing users to examine changes in the geographical distribution of flatbed freight demand and pricing. These indicators provide different measures of market activity rather than a single calculation of available transport capacity.
Tender rejection rates track the proportion of offered shipments declined by carriers within the covered dataset. Rising rejection rates can indicate that contracted capacity is becoming harder to secure, particularly when freight volumes are also increasing. However, rejection data does not directly count the number of available vehicles, and an individual route can have different conditions from those shown by a national measure.
Flatbed freight has a substantial connection with industrial and construction activity because open platform trailers are used for materials and equipment that may be unsuitable for conventional enclosed vans. Steel products, building materials, and industrial machinery can require different trailer specifications, securement arrangements, and loading equipment. Those differences affect which carriers can accept a particular shipment even when vehicles are available in the surrounding region.
Equipment suitability can narrow the effective capacity available for individual loads. A carrier operating a suitable flatbed may still be unable to accept cargo requiring different dimensions, load restraint equipment, or specialised handling. Market rates must therefore be interpreted alongside shipment characteristics and the availability of appropriately equipped vehicles, rather than being treated as a universal price for all industrial freight.
The new dashboard places spot rate measures alongside tender and regional activity, allowing users to examine whether changes in pricing coincide with higher volumes or stronger carrier rejection rates. Different indicators can move in different directions over the same period, reflecting local demand, equipment positioning, and carrier commitments. SONAR has not published a measured improvement in pricing accuracy attributable specifically to the new interface.
The LTL addition covers a different form of road freight operation. Less-than-truckload services consolidate consignments from multiple customers, typically moving them through terminal networks before final delivery. Pricing consequently depends on the characteristics of an individual shipment as well as the transport distance, regional market, and service arrangement.
SONAR’s new LTL view separates rates by geographical region, length of haul, and freight class. It also provides comparisons between regions, the largest rate movements, and historical trends. These distinctions allow the user to examine more comparable groups of shipments rather than relying only on a national average that combines substantially different routes and cargo types.
Freight classification is especially relevant to LTL pricing. The applicable class reflects characteristics used in established rating systems, including density, handling requirements, stowability, and liability. A relatively light but bulky shipment can occupy substantially more trailer space than another consignment of similar weight, changing the commercial calculation even when both move over the same route.
Distance bands introduce another source of variation. A regional LTL movement may pass through fewer terminals than a longer shipment involving multiple linehaul connections, while handling and final delivery costs remain part of the overall service. Comparing rates across different haul lengths without accounting for those operational differences can obscure the actual cost of moving a particular consignment.
The addition of both segments makes it possible to compare market conditions that do not necessarily change together. SONAR identifies flatbed freight as responsive to industrial production and construction activity, while LTL pricing can adjust on a different timetable from full truckload rates. The expanded dashboard allows these differences to be examined in parallel, although it does not establish that one indicator reliably predicts another.
National Insights also retains its Actionable Insights feature, which presents plain-language interpretations of the displayed data. These descriptions accompany the underlying measurements, allowing users to review a market assessment alongside the charts. The interpretation remains dependent on the quality, coverage, and timeliness of the data from which it is produced.
The existing Truckload National Insights dashboard has meanwhile been updated to use blended datasets. SONAR has not supplied a detailed public methodology explaining the source weighting or statistical treatment used for every combined measure. Comparisons between historical and newly blended series therefore require care, especially where a change in the underlying dataset could affect the displayed value independently of actual market movements.
The current market context also illustrates the value of separating indicators. SONAR data discussed on 9 November placed flatbed tender rejection rates around 21%, while a separate update reported rising truckload demand and higher LTL cost per hundredweight between August and October. Those observations concern particular measures and reporting periods; they do not establish that every freight category has experienced identical tightening.
The expanded dashboard is available to existing SONAR subscribers. Its practical use will depend on selecting measures appropriate to the freight being moved, comparing equivalent reporting periods, and reconciling market benchmarks with actual carrier quotations. SONAR has not announced a separate rollout timetable or quantified a customer performance improvement resulting from the additional views.
