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FreightWaves SONAR data available now through Bloomberg

Part of Bloomberg’s Alternative Data Catalog for Bloomberg Data License clients

FreightWaves, the industry-leading provider of data, analytics and news for global supply chains and logistics, announced that two of the company’s proprietary tender indices are now available to Bloomberg Data License clients via the Bloomberg Enterprise Access Point.

The FreightWaves SONAR tender indices track contracted freight volume and capacity availability across the surface freight market. These tender indices provide upstream indicators of contract freight volume, capacity and rate direction. 


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Bloomberg Data License clients can now access SONAR’s national Outbound Tender Rejection Index (OTRI) and national Outbound Tender Volume Index (OTVI) data, giving them unique insight into freight movement patterns across the country. 

These truckload volume and capacity data indicators are especially valuable for anyone that has an interest in directional insights to freight movement patterns, volatility and price movement. The data will give Bloomberg Data License clients unique insight into freight movement patterns across the country. The fundamental truckload volume and capacity data is especially valuable for those that have an interest in freight movement patterns, particularly volatility. Current users include shippers, third-party logistics providers, trucking carriers, economists, financial analysts, investors, bankers and commercial real estate analysts.


“Global supply chains are under great stress and near real-time intelligence about freight volume and capacity has never been more critical. The FreightWaves SONAR tender indices track domestic surface freight load volumes and capacity availability, providing an upstream indicator of contracted freight market conditions,” said Craig Fuller, Founder and CEO of FreightWaves. “For businesses to survive in the coming years they will need to understand their supply chains from top to bottom, including high-value data within the context of their existing workflow.”

Tender indices have been available to FreightWaves SONAR subscribers since 2018 and are the most relevant benchmarks of market demand and capacity. Now through Bloomberg Enterprise Access Point, FreightWaves is enabling industrial and financial market participants to access these critical data sets.

Outbound Tender Volume Index (OTVI)

OTVI is an indicator of raw demand for trucking capacity, representing electronic load requests  for trucks sent by shippers to trucking carriers. OTVI tracks the total volume of electronically tendered load requests that FreightWaves captures. Truckload freight volume is a proxy for business activity around physical goods required by consumers and businesses. Tender data is especially valuable as a leading indicator because it’s made available to clients prior to the freight actually moving. In contrast, freight payments data, which is reported well after freight has been delivered, is a lagging indicator.

Outbound Tender Rejection Index (OTRI)

OTRI is an indicator of capacity availability in contracted surface freight markets. It tracks the percentage of North American contracted surface freight that is rejected by carriers. As the demand for freight hauling services outsrips supply, motor carriers will reject more load requests. 


In addition to indicating demand and capacity, fluctuations in OTRI correspond to movements in the trucking rates paid by shippers to carriers. For example, when OTRI is high (there is insufficient  truckload capacity to meet demand), an increase in trucking rates is likely. Because OTRI measures the relative balance of demand (freight volumes) and supply (trucking capacity), it has strong relationships with macroeconomic factors like consumer goods spending, retail sales, U.S. imports, industrial production, and the business environment for other cyclical industrial companies.

OTVI can be used with OTRI to estimate the accepted volumes of domestic truckload freight moving in the United States. Among other benefits, the indices can help to gauge the health of the consumer and industrial economies.For more information about FreightWaves data including OTRI and OTVI click here.

Bloomberg Enterprise Access Point is Bloomberg’s web-based data marketplace that allows Data License clients to easily discover, access and immediately use high-quality, market-leading content from both Bloomberg and third-party providers. Recently, Bloomberg announced the expansion of its alternative data offering, representing a three-fold increase in the number of third-party alternative data vendors available since the product’s introduction in February 2019. The move allows Bloomberg clients to access a much-expanded catalogue of curated alternative data, uniquely positioned to provide insights in today’s market environment.