BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Total load posts on DAT One rose to 4.36 million last week, up 29% from the prior week, as brokers pushed freight into the spot market during CVSA’s annual International Roadcheck inspection event.
“Equipment posts fell 12% to 186,493 as many carriers parked their trucks for the week to avoid inspection-related delays and exposure,” DAT Freight & Analytics said. “The capacity pullback drove national 7-day average broker-to-carrier spot rates higher across all three equipment types.”
The Roadcheck Effect
“The CVSA International Roadcheck inspection event usually has an outsized effect on truckload capacity and spot rates, with load posts rising and truck posts declining by double-digit percentages,” said Dean Croke, industry analyst, DAT.
According to Croke, several things happen at once during Roadcheck week:
- Carriers park trucks to avoid exposure. Drivers who think their vehicle or paperwork might not pass, or who simply don’t want to risk an out-of-service order that strands them for hours or days, take the week off. This is why equipment posts drop sharply (down 12% across all three equipment types last week, with flatbed down 20%).
- Behaviors change. The capacity drop during Roadcheck is real but somewhat behavioral. Many carriers are still running, just being more selective about loads, lanes, and inspection-heavy corridors. Last week’s truck-post counts likely overstate the physical capacity loss but accurately reflect the market dynamic that spot rates respond to.
- Productivity falls for trucks that stay on the road. Even compliant carriers lose hours to inspections themselves. A Level I inspection is a 37-step procedure, which typically takes 45 minutes to an hour per truck when nothing’s wrong. Multiply that across weigh stations and pop-up sites, and effective capacity tightens further than the post counts suggest. Last year, CVSA officials conducted 56,178 inspections across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. That’s approximately 13 vehicles per minute during the 72-hour window.
- Schedules shift. With capacity expected to be scarce, some shippers move tendering up to the week before; others lose contract coverage as carriers decline loads and freight rolls to spot. Both dynamics inflate spot load posts (up 29% across the three equipment types last week).
7-Day Average Broker-to-Carrier Spot Rates
▲ Dry van: $2.58 per mile, up 21 cents week over week
▲ Refrigerated: $3.05 per mile, up 32 cents
▲ Flatbed: $3.16 per mile, up 10 cents
Van: Capacity Exits, Rates Jump
▲ Van loads: 1,793,675, up 36% week over week
▼ Van equipment: 134,079, down 11%
▲ Linehaul rate: $2.22 per mile, up 21 cents week over week
▲ Load-to-truck ratio: 13.38, up from 8.70 the prior week
Reefer: Roadcheck and Produce Season Collide
▲ Reefer loads: 940,747, up 50% week over week
▼ Reefer equipment: 34,083, down 12%
▲ Linehaul rate: $2.68 per mile, up 32 cents
▲ Load-to-truck ratio: 27.60, up from 16.25
Flatbed: Sharpest Capacity Drop of the Three
▲ Flatbed loads: 1,628,127, up 13% week over week
▼ Flatbed equipment: 18,331, down 20%
▲ Linehaul rate: $2.79 per mile, up 10 cents
▲ Load-to-truck ratio: 88.82, up from 62.93
“The net effect is a textbook tightening: more demand chasing less supply,” Croke said. “This typically reverses the following week as parked capacity returns and pulled-forward freight is already covered.”
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
