The value of information sharing for truckload shippers

• We estimate truckload spot price premiums using a detailed transactional dataset.
• Spot prices increase significantly as lead time decreases.
• Other factors are important drivers of cost, including the bid day of week.
• We propose a method of estimating truckload market conditions.
• Market conditions exhibit significant first-order serial correlation.

This study explores the potential value to shippers of sharing load offers with carriers and obtaining carriers’ responses in advance of the scheduled pickup date. Using a private transactional dataset from a large national shipper, we find that truckload spot prices increase considerably as the lead time before pickup decreases. As an extension of this empirical analysis, we develop a method to estimate near-real-time market prices, which does not currently exist in the truckload industry. A key insight is that market prices persist through time, meaning that current prices are good predictors of future prices.