Carriers have a clear preference in terms of where they are trying to position themselves in the U.S. and it illustrates just how unbalanced transportation capacity continues to be. Loads traveling more than 800 miles (long haul) to the West Coast have been rejected at nearly half the rate of any other region in the continental U.S. over the past two months (long haul is used to eliminate loads that move intra-region). As long as the freight market remains as polarized as the U.S. political system, capacity will be an issue, which could lead to even higher rates.
It is no secret that there have been literal boatloads of freight available to move out of Southern California over the past year. This overwhelming amount of freight largely moves in one direction, west to east, throwing transportation capacity further out of balance.
