Fuel & rates

DAT: quarter-end freight push lifts van spot rate $0.11 to $3.13 a mile

Load posts rose 9% to 3.3 million for the week of Sept. 27–Oct. 3 while truck posts fell 8%; every equipment type gained, but DAT's Dean Croke calls it a calendar push, not a demand shift.

By CDLWire · Published October 6, 2026

Summarized from TheTrucker.com.

Aerial view of a busy freight terminal with rows of semi trucks being loaded at golden morning light

Spot rates jumped across the board in the final week of the quarter as shippers rushed freight out the door before the books closed, according to TheTrucker.com on Oct. 5, reporting DAT Freight & Analytics data for the week of Sept. 27–Oct. 3.

DAT One load posts totaled 3.3 million, up 9% from the prior week, while equipment posts fell 8% to 170,691, with truck posts down for all three equipment types. Seven-day average all-in broker-to-carrier spot rates: van $3.13 a mile, up $0.11; reefer $3.69 a mile, up $0.07; flatbed $3.71 a mile, up $0.11. On the linehaul side, van rose $0.07 to $2.25 a mile with the load-to-truck ratio climbing to 13.7 from 11.1 — nearly double the same week last year. Reefer linehaul edged up $0.02 to $2.74 a mile with the ratio at 21.7, up from 17.6. Flatbed stayed the tightest of the three: linehaul up $0.06 to $2.65 a mile, ratio 44.1, up from 40.3.

Linehaul rates are running roughly a third above last year — van up 34%, reefer up 33%, flatbed up 28% year over year. Fuel did some of the lifting: EIA's national diesel average hit a record $6.529 a gallon for the week ending Sept. 21, adding about $0.04 a mile to van and reefer surcharges and $0.05 to flatbed, though diesel has since eased to $6.382 for the week ending Sept. 28. DAT's 35-day RateCast has van linehaul holding near $2.24 a mile into early November. And the caveat from DAT industry analyst Dean Croke: the move looks like a quarter-end push — overflow hitting the spot market as contract capacity filled — rather than a lasting demand shift.