Tabi's Pricing Pressure Index rose 7 points over the past 30 days to 36, signaling that brokers and carriers still control spot freight pricing but that their advantage is measurably eroding, according to FreightWaves.
Pricing Power Index: Brokers Still Ahead, but Less So
The index, published monthly by rate-management platform Tabi — also styled as the TAVI Pricing Pressure Index in Tabi's own bullet summary — sits on a 0-100 scale where 0 represents maximum pricing power for brokers and carriers and 100 represents maximum pricing power for shippers, FreightWaves reported. A 36 reading remains firmly in broker-favored territory, but the 7-point jump in the last month reflects a "measurable softening in spot market conditions," the report said.
Rush Feldhacker, whose firm Tabi aggregates data from more than 1.5 million spot loads each month, said brokers are still winning spot volumes at a significant rate with good margins, but the situation is not what it was three months ago. Feldhacker noted the current reading is significantly higher than it would have been at the same point last year, meaning brokers are still operating in favorable territory.
For comparison, FreightWaves' Sonar Pricing Power Index, which is inversely scaled, currently sits at 70 — also indicating broker and carrier leverage over shippers.
How the Index Is Built
According to FreightWaves, the index's construction accounts for load volume, margin, awarded margin, and bid margin. The underlying dataset covers more than 1.5 million spot loads processed through Tabi's system each month.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Tabi Pricing Pressure Index | 36 (0 = max broker/carrier power; 100 = max shipper power) |
| 30-day change | +7 points |
| Monthly spot loads analyzed | 1.5 million+ |
| FreightWaves Sonar Pricing Power Index | 70 (inversely scaled; higher = broker/carrier leverage) |
Shippers Feel the Shift Three to Four Months Late
Shippers are feeling the squeeze differently from brokers, FreightWaves reported. Because their underlying business volumes have not grown, they cannot absorb rising transportation costs the way they could during demand-driven booms. Contract rates provide only a temporary buffer, since tender commitments are not truly enforceable, Feldhacker said.
Shippers typically see the impact of a market shift three to four months after brokers do, once tender rejections widen enough to disrupt operations. Feldhacker recalled speaking with a shipper in early January of this year who believed soft market conditions were "the new normal" even as the market was already turning.
Capacity-Driven Market Creates a Different Pressure
Feldhacker, who spent 16 years as a freight broker including an early stint at Access America Transport starting in 2010, said the current capacity-driven rate environment is catching some brokers off guard. Unlike demand-driven market shifts, where higher volumes provide more opportunities to profit, capacity-driven tightening produces similar-looking rate charts but fewer loads to cover.
"There's the same amount of loads I'm covering. I just happen to be making more on them," he said.
Data Discipline Separates Winners in the Second Half
For the second half of the year, disciplined data use is the dividing line between brokers who capture peak-season upside and those who miss it, Feldhacker told FreightWaves. Brokers still making pricing decisions "from the hip" without analyzing win rates by lane and customer are chasing volume the way the market rewarded several years ago — a strategy that no longer pencils out.
The ones that are winning are looking at their win rates on their large customers by lane. They're setting up capacity strategies based off of where the largest opportunity is. And they're not chasing freight that doesn't pencil out for them.
Those investing in analytics and enforcing organization-wide pricing rules are positioned to capitalize as conditions evolve, according to FreightWaves.
Watch List
- Next month's Tabi Pricing Pressure Index reading will show whether the 7-point climb continues or stalls.
- The index is published monthly and available free on Tabi's website.
- Tender rejection rates and lane-level win rates will indicate whether shippers start feeling the shift sooner than the typical three-to-four-month lag.
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