The National Drayage Spot Market Index has increased by 5% year over year

January reflects a market where pricing and service conditions remain misaligned across the containerized supply chain, with ocean pricing continuing to favor shippers while inland execution grows increasingly complex. Despite softness in upstream freight markets, national drayage pricing has increased 5% year-over-year. These factors continue to limit productivity gains for drayage operators, reinforcing pricing discipline even as broader transportation markets search for equilibrium.

Port and rail connectivity stand out as defining operational variables entering January. Expanded efforts to shift containerized freight toward intermodal rail networks are reshaping inland cargo flows, increasing dependency on rail-served terminals and inland ramps. While improved port–rail coordination promises long-term efficiency gains, near-term execution risk remains elevated as cascading vessel deployments and uneven rail velocity place additional strain on first- and last-mile drayage capacity. As a result, dwell times and appointment variability continue to influence drayage performance and cost outcomes across key gateways.

Ocean network conditions remain a critical upstream driver of drayage volatility. Continued capacity injections across trans-Atlantic and secondary trade lanes have outpaced demand, intensifying competition among carriers while further eroding schedule reliability. As service quality across global container networks remains under pressure, downstream impacts are increasingly felt at terminals through compressed free time, irregular discharge patterns, and inconsistent rail handoffs, all of which directly affect drayage planning, asset utilization, and exception exposure.

From a regulatory and labor perspective, January highlights growing uncertainty within the rail ecosystem that carries direct implications for drayage operations. Labor opposition to proposed rail consolidation efforts underscores concerns around service continuity, workforce stability, and network resiliency. These developments reinforce the need for stronger coordination among ports, railroads, terminals, and drayage providers, as operational risk is increasingly concentrated at the interfaces between stakeholders rather than within any single segment of the supply chain.