Reefer spot rate climbs 9 cents to $3.59 as diesel jumps 37 cents

DAT One load posts totaled 2.9 million for the week of Sept. 13-19, up 16% from the prior week, as freight returned to a normal cadence in the first full shipping week after Labor Day. Equipment posts totaled 175,593, up 8%. All-in rates rose for all three equipment types, but diesel accounted for more than the entire increase for dry van and flatbed freight.

The EIA’s national average on-highway diesel price used in this report’s fuel surcharge calculation was $5.967 a gallon (week ending Sept. 7), up 36.8 cents (6.6%) from $5.599 the week before. Diesel has kept climbing since. The EIA reported $6.285 a gallon for the week ending Sept. 14, up another 31.8 cents and the first weekly reading above $6 in its records going back to 2007. The fuel surcharge will reflect that price in next week’s report.

About the timing of fuel surcharge calculations: The EIA prices diesel each Monday, and we use the reading from the Monday before the report week opens. That keeps the surcharge on the price that was already published and in effect while the freight moved, so the all-in rates trail the fuel market by about a week by design.

7-day average broker-to-carrier spot rates (linehaul + fuel surcharge):

▲ Van: $2.96 per mile, up 4 cents

▲ Reefer: $3.59 per mile, up 9 cents

▲ Flatbed: $3.55 per mile, up 6 cents

Dry van: Freight and capacity returned together.

▲ Loads: 1,307,198, up 15%

▲ Trucks: 116,503, up 8%

▼ Linehaul rate: $2.17 per mile, down 3 cents

▲ Load-to-truck ratio: 11.2, up from 10.6 the prior week

Reefer: Fall produce is starting to move.

▲ Loads: 676,677, up 8%

▲ Trucks: 35,497, up 3%

▲ Linehaul rate: $2.73 per mile, up 2 cents

▲ Load-to-truck ratio: 19.1, up from 18.2 the prior week

Flatbed: Load posts jump 25%.

▲ Loads: 954,774, up 25%

▲ Trucks: 23,593, up 15%

▼ Linehaul rate: $2.60 per mile, down 1 cent

▲ Load-to-truck ratio: 40.5, up from 37.1 the prior week

Market analysis from Dean Croke, industry analyst at DAT Freight & Analytics

Freight returned to a normal cadence. The first full shipping week after Labor Day brought load posts up across all three equipment types, and equipment posts climbed as carriers returned to the road. Van load posts now run about 2% above their pre-Labor Day August pace, and flatbed about 11% above. Reefer sits roughly 7% below that August pace, just short of a full rebound.

Flatbed load posts surged 25% on the week. Flatbed load posts were the highest in two months, while truck posts rose 14.8%. That pushed the flatbed load-to-truck ratio to 40.5 from 37.1, the tightest reading across segments. Flatbed load volumes are tracking 16% above the 2025 weekly average and 39% above the long-term average for Week 38.

Capacity constraint continues. Truck posts remain 30% below a year ago for van, 24% for reefer, and 24% for flatbed. At 175,593, total equipment posts were the lowest Week 38 figure in DAT’s records. Ratios sit far above last year: 11.2 against 5.9 for van, 19.1 against 9.8 for reefer, and 40.5 against 25.9 for flatbed.

Reefer demand is following the harvest. Reefer load posts were 48% above a year ago, the largest year-over-year gain of the three. Regionally, the reefer rate from the Upper Midwest averaged $3.53 a mile, up 2% week over week, and the Pacific Northwest jumped 6% to $3.04.

Spot rates are running well above last year. Van linehaul is up 33% year over year, reefer 38%, and flatbed 29%. Against the nine-year seasonal average for this week, van runs 20% higher, reefer 28%, and flatbed 25%. The 35-day DAT iQ RateCast forecast puts van linehaul at $2.15 a mile by late October, reefer at $2.69, and flatbed at $2.55. Those are 46, 61, and 50 cents above the same rates a year earlier.