On Thursday, March 30, a bridge collapsed in Atlanta. In the middle of March, a snowstorm affected the East Coast for two days. One of these events boosted shipping rates, the other barely moved the needle.
Can you guess which one affected rates? The answer, surprisingly, is the snowstorm. And therein lies the volatility question that brokers, carriers and shippers deal with on a daily basis. What event is going to impact their rate structure?
Let’s start with the I-85 bridge collapse in Atlanta, which Georgia DOT officials hope to have the bridge open by June 15. According to DAT’s Ken Harper, the collapse due to a fire that melted structural beams, has had almost no impact on spot truckload traffic in the area. The reason, he wrote in a company blog, is because most trucks running in the area avoid this stretch of highway because it runs through the city of Atlanta. Most trucks running through the area travel I-285 to go around Atlanta.
