BEAVERTON, Ore. — Truckload freight volumes rebounded modestly in December while spot truckload rates surged to their highest monthly averages of 2025, said DAT Freight & Analytics, which operates the DAT One freight marketplace and DAT iQ freight data analytics service.
The DAT Truckload Volume Index
The DAT Truckload Volume Index (TVI), which measures demand for truckload services, increased for van and refrigerated (“reefer”) freight:
- Van TVI: 222, up 4% month over month but down 3% year over year.
- Refrigerated TVI: 190, up 7% month over month and virtually unchanged year over year.
- Flatbed TVI: 249, down 1% month over month and up 3% year over year.
Spot Rates
While freight volume gains were limited, spot market rates climbed sharply in December as seasonal demand collided with severe weather that snarled ecommerce networks and tightened logistics capacity. Monthly average spot market rates to move van and reefer freight reached their highest levels of the year:
- Spot van rate: $2.29 per mile, up 20 cents from November.
- Spot reefer rate: $2.69 per mile, up 15 cents.
- Spot flatbed rate: $2.53 per mile, up 6 cents.
Spot van and reefer rates were nearly 9% higher year over year. The spot flatbed rate increased 6% compared to December 2024.
“Peak-season spot rates showed up in December,” said Ken Adamo, DAT chief of analytics. “A combination of seasonality, weather, the quirks of the holiday calendar, and constrained capacity drove prices substantially higher, as opposed to stronger freight volumes.”
Contract Rates
Contract truckload rates remained largely flat in December.
- Contract van rate: $2.46 per mile, unchanged month over month.
- Contract reefer rate: $2.79 per mile, down 2 cents.
- Contract flatbed rate: $3.05 per mile, down 2 cents.
For van and reefer freight, the spread between average spot and contract rates narrowed to its smallest gap since March 2022, underscoring shippers’ urgency to secure truckload capacity in December.
“Tariffs, regulatory chatter, and changes on the technology side made 2025 a very busy year operationally, yet pricing and volumes barely moved,” Adamo said. “Heading into Q1 2026, normal financial pressures will trim capacity and pinch freight broker margins, and if tariffs are overturned, we could see a chaotic couple of quarters as imports surge. But the longer this flat market continues, the more we’ll need something big and sustained to invert it.”
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.
