Holiday Freight Meets a Tight Trucking Market

There's no freight boom, but truckload carriers are finding themselves in a stronger position to negotiate rates. And holiday shipping demand could tighten the market further.

Truckload carriers are seeing higher spot rates even as freight volumes remain sluggish, suggesting tighter capacity is giving them more leverage in rate negotiations.

The national average dry van spot rate reached $3.05 per mile in October, its highest monthly average since February 2022, according to DAT Freight & Analytics.

That was up 4 cents from September and a whopping 98 cents from October 2025.

This story was originally published by TruckingInfo (HDT). Read the full story at TruckingInfo (HDT) →