Freight trends from DAT One and DAT iQ

Load posts on DAT One jumped 10% week over week

Load posts on DAT One rose 10% to 2.2 million during the week of Sept. 14-20, the highest Week 38 total since 2022. Truck posts decreased 7% to 232,938—32% lower year over year. National 7-day average spot van and reefer rates dipped slightly, while the flatbed rate ticked up by a penny.

Broker-to-carrier 7-day average spot rates:

▼ Dry van: $2.02 per mile, down 1 cent week over week

▼ Refrigerated: $2.36 per mile, down 3 cents

▲ Flatbed: $2.41 per mile, up 1 cent

Dry van

▲ Van loads: 965,969, up 6% week over week

▼ Van equipment: 159,650, down 6%

▼ Linehaul rate: $1.65 per mile, down 1 cent

Reefer

▲ Reefer loads: 446,457, up 4% week over week

▼ Reefer equipment: 43,348, down 11%

▼ Linehaul rate: $2.00 per mile, down 2 cents

Flatbed

▲ Flatbed loads: 798,788, up 17% week over week

▼ Flatbed equipment: 29,940, down 6%

▲ Linehaul rate: $2.05 per mile, up 2 cents

Market notes from Dean Croke, DAT iQ industry analyst:

Flatbed load posts surged 17% last week and are up 25% in the past month. At $2.05 per mile, the 7-day national average flatbed rate was 11 cents higher than Week 38 last year, 16 cents higher than in 2023, and 4 cents above the same week in 2017 amid a strong industrial economy.

Dry van load posts rose 6% last week and were nearly 40% higher year over year.

At $1.99 per mile, the average linehaul rate for DAT’s top 50 van lanes by load volume fell another 2 cents last week. In the 13 key Midwest states—representing 46% of the national load volume and a leading indicator of national trends—the average spot rate declined 4 cents to $1.87 per mile.

Reefer load posts on DAT One increased 4% last week. That’s 44% higher year over year and in line with pre-pandemic averages for Week 38.