BEAVERTON, Ore. — Load posts on DAT One reached 3.3 million during the week of Jan. 4-10, the first full shipping week of 2026.
“That’s up 25% year over year,” DAT said. “The number of available trucks was 205,546, down 4% compared to the same week last year. Last week’s average spot rates were the highest in at least a decade across all three equipment types, excluding the years affected by the pandemic (2021 and 2022). The question everyone is asking is whether these rates will stay elevated or collapse in the weeks ahead.”
Broker-to-Carrier 7-Day Average Spot Rates
â–¼ Dry van: $2.40 per mile, down 2 cents week over week
â–¼ Refrigerated: $2.90 per mile, down 4 cents
â–¼ Flatbed: $2.55 per mile, down 1 cent
Dry Van
â–² Van loads: 1.5 million, up 16% year over year
â–¼ Van equipment: 142,038, down 1% year over year
â–¼ Linehaul rate: $2.04 per mile, down 2 cents week over week
“Dry van spot rates normally decline by 20 to 25 cents per mile on average over the first 10 days of January (since 2016, excluding 2021 and 2022, which were strongly influenced by the pandemic),” said Dean Croke, industry analyst, DAT Freight & Analytics. “This year, the van rate is only 7 cents lower, retreating more slowly than usual due to limited capacity. Dry van load-post volumes were 67% higher than the 10-year average for Week 2, and only eight of the 135 freight markets DAT tracks weekly reported fewer load posts week over week.”
Reefer
â–² Reefer loads: 819,623, up 22% year over year
â–¼ Reefer equipment: 41,511, down 12% year over year
â–¼ Linehaul rate: $2.53 per mile, down 4 cents week over week
“Spot reefer rates cooled last week, ending a six-week surge where the average linehaul rate rose by 45 cents per mile. Still, the national average reefer rate—$2.53 per mile—was 33 cents higher than the same period last year,” Croke said. “It is also substantially elevated when compared to historical data, exceeding the five-year average (excluding pandemic-influenced years) by 45 cents.”
Flatbed
â–² Flatbed loads: 969,409, up 46% year over year
â–¼ Flatbed equipment: 21,997, down 12% year over year
— Linehaul rate: $2.18 per mile, unchanged week over week
“At $2.18 a mile, the national average spot flatbed rate is 17 cents higher year over year and exceeds the five-year average (excluding 2021 and 2022) by 23 cents,” Croke said. “Flatbed load-post volumes were aligned with the 10-year average for Week 2 on the shipping calendar, and were almost twice that of the same week last year. In the U.S. Southeast, demand for trucks drove the average spot linehaul flatbed rate 9 cents higher to $2.57 per mile. Excluding the record-setting rates in 2022, the Southeast started the year with the highest flatbed linehaul rates seen in a decade.”
Cross Border Mexican Freight
“The 2026 shipping season for Mexican fruits and vegetables is underway, and competition for trucks has intensified,” Croke said. “Spot reefer rates from Laredo, Pharr, and McAllen, Texas, are trending modestly higher compared to late December as carriers become more selective, particularly on longer-haul lanes to the East Coast. The pressure is more pronounced in Nogales, Arizona, the focal point for winter vegetable shipments. As Nogales competes directly with Yuma and the Imperial Valley for refrigerated capacity, long-haul lanes to the Northeast are experiencing outright capacity shortages. History suggests border-market constraints often ripple inland, tightening markets and pushing rates higher before contract pricing has time to adjust.”
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.
