Hurricane Ian causes inbound freight rates to rise in Florida

Hurricane season began in earnest in late September, impacting both Florida in the U.S. and Canada’s maritime provinces.

Hurricane Fiona hit Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island on the east coast of Canada on Sept. 24, causing power outages and some damage to potato storage and processing facilities, according to press reports.

On Sept. 28, Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa in southwestern Florida. While crop damage was still being assessed, the Florida Farm Bureau reported in late September that Florida growers and ranchers suffered widespread destruction of crops, buildings, fencing and other property loss due to substantial wind and water damage. 

In areas of the Citrus Belt, Florida Farm Bureau reported there has been significant fruit drop. 

Growers as far north as St. Augustine experienced flooded vegetable fields, and Florida’s ag leaders said it might take some time to assess the extent of the damage. One consequence of Hurricane Ian in Florida has been an increase in inbound freight rates, said Dean Croke, principal analyst for DAT Freight & Analytics.

“Most of the impact we see is on the inbound side,” Croke said. “We rarely see a significant long-term (storm related) impact on outbound (freight rates), especially in a market like Florida that has a low outbound freight volume because it's a consumer market.”

Because of hurricane relief and reconstruction efforts, Croke said there's definitely going to be some imbalance in freight volumes in Florida, with more inbound demand than outbound demand.

Rates from Atlanta to Lakeland, Fla., were up 39¢ per mile higher than the average for all of September.

The impact of Hurricane Ian on freight markets was immediate, according to an Oct. 3 analysis from DAT.

The DAT report predicted considerable market instability in the coming weeks. Based on past hurricane impact, inbound rates should remain elevated far longer than outbound rates given the large inbound freight volume in comparison to outbound, according to DAT.