DAT says spot linehaul rates climbed again in the week ending Oct. 31 — van $2.23, reefer $2.71, flatbed $2.61 — while Truckstop's all-in rates fell for all three types

The two spot-rate systems drivers watch most are telling different stories about the same week, and the difference is fuel. DAT Freight & Analytics reported on Nov. 2 that spot linehaul rates paid to carriers rose again in the week ending Oct. 31 — dry van averaged $2.23 per mile, reefer $2.71 per mile and flatbed $2.61 per mile, all excluding fuel. Truckstop and FTR, covering the week ending Oct. 30, reported that broker-posted all-in rates fell for all three equipment types for the first time since mid-August. Both can be true: DAT’s figures are linehaul only, while Truckstop’s include the fuel component that a falling diesel week pulls down.

Start with DAT’s board, because its market conditions explain the direction. Dry van load posts rose 8.4% last week while truck posts fell 5.7%, lifting the dry van load-to-truck ratio to 10.93 from 9.51. Load posts are 26.8% above a year ago while truck posts remain 26.1% below it, and the ratio stands well above the 6.37 recorded a year ago. The van rate itself, $2.23 per mile, was up $0.03, or 1.3%, from the week before, up 32.6%, or $0.55, year over year, and 22.9%, or $0.42, above the nine-year seasonal average of $1.81 per mile. DAT’s 35-day forecast edges van linehaul up to $2.26 per mile, in a range of $2.19 to $2.33, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday replenishment keeping distribution centers drawing trailers into the first days of December.

Reefer firmed the same way. Reefer linehaul averaged $2.71 per mile, up $0.03, or 1.2%, week over week and up 31.2%, or $0.65, year over year, holding 27.5%, or $0.58, above the nine-year seasonal average of $2.13 per mile. The reefer load-to-truck ratio rose to 15.73 from 14.79 as load posts rose 1.8% and truck posts fell 4.3%. DAT projects reefer linehaul at $2.73 per mile 35 days out, and notes that Thanksgiving sits inside that window: demand for turkeys, produce, dairy and other perishables typically pulls reefer loads forward into the week before the holiday.

Flatbed remains the tightest board of the three, by DAT’s measure, and it tightened again. Flatbed linehaul averaged $2.61 per mile, up $0.01, or 0.5%, week over week, up 28.6%, or $0.58, year over year and above the top of its historical range against a nine-year seasonal average of $2.08 per mile. The flatbed load-to-truck ratio climbed to 41.73 from 34.93 as load posts rose 7.4% and truck posts fell 10.1% — a board 80.3% tighter than the 23.14 recorded a year ago, with a ratio 3.8 times dry van’s. DAT expects flatbed linehaul to ease to $2.60 per mile over the next 35 days, because construction and industrial shipments usually slow around Thanksgiving and as year-end project work winds down.

Now the other system. The Trucker, reporting the Truckstop/FTR release on Nov. 2, said the total market broker-posted rate decreased $0.013 per mile in the week ending Oct. 30, after decreasing more than $0.02 the previous week. Dry van spot rates decreased $0.025 after rising $0.02 the prior week, refrigerated rates decreased $0.035 after falling $0.07 in total over the prior two weeks, and flatbed rates declined $0.016, essentially matching the previous week’s decrease. Yet Truckstop’s volume picture matches DAT’s tightness: total load activity rose 8.5% for its largest gain in six weeks, truck postings were essentially flat, and the Market Demand Index reached its highest level in four weeks. FTR characterized the softer rates as largely in keeping with seasonal expectations.

The year-over-year standings agree even where the weekly arrows do not. Truckstop put total rates 41.5% higher than the same week last year — and, pointedly, up less than 34% once a calculated fuel surcharge is stripped out, using diesel prices through the week ended Oct. 26. Dry van was close to 48% higher year over year, refrigerated more than 41%, and flatbed 42%. DAT’s linehaul comparisons, 32.6% for van, 31.2% for reefer and 28.6% for flatbed, measure the same underlying market with the fuel stripped out from the start. Regional detail also agrees: Truckstop found West Coast dry van rates up sharply, nearly 65% above the same 2025 week for the strongest comparison of the year, and DAT found California the best-performing van origin, up $0.04 to $2.62 per mile.

For a driver pricing a load this week, the practical read is to separate the two numbers before arguing about either. The freight itself — the linehaul a carrier keeps before fuel — firmed again on DAT’s board because more loads are chasing fewer posted trucks in all three equipment types, most extremely in flatbed. The all-in check can still shrink in a week when the fuel component falls, which is what Truckstop’s system recorded. Quote with both in view, watch the West Coast premium if you run van, and expect the seasonal fights ahead: a pre-Thanksgiving reefer pull-forward on one side, and a flatbed slowdown as construction winds down on the other.