The 2026 freight market in one paragraph

For the seventh consecutive month, US truckload spot rates rose — reaching $2.68/mile dry van, $3.12 reefer, $3.46 flatbed in April 2026. The trend is being driven by structural capacity exit (carriers shut by 18 months of low rates), not surging demand. Cass shipment volumes are still negative year-over-year — but rates are firming anyway. That's a classic late-cycle pattern. Shippers should expect 2026 to remain a sellers' market.

$2.68

Van $/mi Apr 2026

$3.12

Reefer $/mi Apr 2026

$3.46

Flatbed $/mi Apr 2026

$5.64

Diesel $/gal May 4

Dry van: the bellwether mode

Period	$/mile	Note
February 2026	$2.00	National linehaul, DAT
Mar 1–7	$2.36	Weekly snapshot
March 2026 avg	$2.52	National DAT
April 2026	$2.68	2-year high

Dry van rates climbed roughly 34% from February to April 2026. The seventh consecutive monthly increase pushed national spot to its highest level since early 2024. DAT reports the lane-level high — Laredo→Dallas — at $3.50–$3.80/mile. Source: DAT press: seventh straight monthly gain, Dynamic Logistix DAT summary.

Reefer: produce season is the driver

Period	$/mile	Note
February 2026	$2.38	National linehaul
Mar 1–7	$2.75	Weekly snapshot
March 2026 avg	$2.97	DAT national
April 2026	$3.12	2-year high

Reefer rates are running roughly $0.44 above dry van and have moved in lockstep with the produce calendar. Florida's strawberry season (Plant City) runs Feb–April; tomato country (Immokalee, Homestead) runs Dec–June. Salinas Valley California produce stacks on top May–September. Plant City→NY/NJ metro reefer was paying $3.20–$3.80 in spring 2026. Source: Truck Dispatch Experts Spring 2026 lane guide, Heavy Duty Trucking on DAT reefer movement.

Flatbed: construction-led, the strongest mode

Period	$/mile	Note
February 2026	$2.33	National linehaul
Mar 1–7	$2.70	Weekly snapshot
March 2026 avg	$3.09	DAT
April 2026	$3.46	Sharpest YTD move

Flatbed is the surprise outperformer of early 2026 — up roughly 48% Feb–Apr. The driver: spring construction ramp-up plus steel and oilfield equipment demand. Pittsburgh→Houston (steel and oilfield) is running $3.20–$3.70/mi; Birmingham→Detroit (auto steel) similar. CCJ Digital and FreightWaves both flag flatbed as the leading-edge mode for the 2026 cycle. Source: Heavy Duty Trucking: flatbed climbs as van/reefer soften, Commercial Carrier Journal: 2026 structural capacity squeeze.

LTL: prices firm even with softer demand

C.H. Robinson's 2026 LTL outlook is unambiguous: carriers face higher costs, more complex freight profiles, and uneven regional volumes — meaning shippers should expect LTL pricing to stay firm through 2026. Per-mile LTL equivalents on dense corridors (Chicago→Atlanta, Dallas→LA) run $1.10–$1.45/mi. LTL general rate increases (GRIs) in early 2026 ran 4.9%–7.9% across the major carriers, with class-based density-rule changes adding effective increases on top. Source: C.H. Robinson Key Truckload & LTL Trends for 2026, DAT blog on Cass softness vs. rate firming.

Drayage: LA/LB is the priciest port; alternatives are growing

Los Angeles / Long Beach remains the most expensive drayage market in the US in 2026 — CARB compliance, zero-emission mandates, chronic chassis shortages, and the PierPASS Traffic Mitigation Fee on daytime moves all stack on top of base rates. The Clean Truck Fund Rate for 2026 is $10 per loaded TEU and $20 for larger containers when hauled by a conventional drayage truck. Shippers are increasingly diverting boxes to Houston, Savannah, and Charleston for lower per-move dray legs into the same inland network. Source: Book Your Cargo: LA / Long Beach Drayage 2026.

Fuel surcharge: $0.42–$0.55 per loaded mile

The EIA Weekly On-Highway Diesel report shows national average diesel at $5.64/gallon the week ending May 4, 2026 — one of the highest readings of the year, up 28.9 cents week-over-week. Regional spread:

Region	Diesel $/gal (May 2026)
California	$7.36
West Coast (less CA)	$6.00
Lower Atlantic	$5.33
Gulf Coast	$5.18
National average	$5.64

Standard FSC tables at $5.64 diesel produce $0.42–$0.55 per loaded mile — up to 20% of the all-in revenue per move. Source: EIA Weekly Petroleum Status, O Trucking 2026 FSC tables, Overdrive: spot rates hit all-time high as diesel surges.

BLS PPI: trucking is now driving overall producer prices

The April 2026 BLS Producer Price Index release flagged an 8.1% increase in prices for truck transportation of freight as a major contributor to stage-1 intermediate-demand price changes. The PPI for General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance Truckload was 210.086 in April (Dec 2003 = 100). In plain English: trucking is no longer a follower of inflation — it is now a driver of it. Source: BLS PPI Apr 2026 release, FRED BLS PPI series.

Cass Freight Index: shipments soft, expenditures rising

The Cass Freight Index showed shipments down 7.1% y/y in January, 4.5% y/y in March — but expenditures up 4.2% y/y in March, with February expenditures rising 5.1% m/m. Volume soft, dollars climbing is the textbook capacity-constrained recovery pattern. Source: Cass March 2026 report, Cass January 2026.

What this means for 2026 shippers

Move to binding contracts now. Spot is the wrong side of this market. Binding ATI contracts at today's per-mile remove the spot-rate volatility from your 2026 budget. Call (786) 574-5774.
Build EIA-indexed FSC pass-through into your customer contracts. Diesel at $5.64 makes a hand-coded FSC obsolete in months.
Diversify port entries. LA/LB drayage premium and Clean Truck Fund make Savannah, Houston, and Charleston worth pricing on every container booking.
Pre-book produce reefer. Spring strawberries / tomatoes / lettuce season means reefer capacity prices ahead of demand — book 14–21 days out for May–June produce out of Florida and California.
Flatbed pre-positioning matters. Pittsburgh, Birmingham, and Houston outbound flatbeds are highest-paying. If you're a shipper of steel or industrial equipment, pre-arrange truck availability.

For binding 2026 rates: (786) 574-5774 · rates@ship-ati.com

Freight Rate Trends 2026 by Mode: Van $2.68, Reefer $3.12, Flatbed $3.46/mile