Dry van spot rats
Dry van spot linehaul rates paid to carriers averaged $2.19 per mile this week, minus fuel, down 0.8%, or $0.02 per mile, from the prior week. Rates ran 32.4%, or $0.53 per mile, above the same week a year ago and held 21.2%, or $0.38 per mile, above the nine-year seasonal average of $1.80 per mile, near the top of the historical range.
All rates cited are linehaul only. They exclude fuel costs and surcharges unless otherwise noted.
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Bellwether states
The 10 dry van bellwether states posted a moves-weighted outbound rate of $2.93 per mile this week, up 0.7%, or $0.02 per mile, week over week, and up 37.9%, or $0.80 per mile, year over year. The roster carried 35.7% of all U.S. state-outbound dry van loads, in line with its recent baseline near 35%.
Regional rate trends
| Dry Van – Top 10 Origins by Rate Per Mile – Week Ending August 28, 2026 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Origin Region | Avg RPM | WoW % | YoY % |
| 1 | Ohio River | $2.61 | -0.3% | +38.9% |
| 2 | Great Lakes | $2.58 | +0.2% | +36.2% |
| 3 | California | $2.50 | -1.4% | +30.5% |
| 4 | Upper Atlantic | $2.32 | +2.0% | +39.2% |
| 5 | Lower Midwest | $2.32 | -1.3% | +30.6% |
| 6 | Lower Atlantic | $2.31 | +2.1% | +39.3% |
| 7 | Southeast | $2.27 | -2.4% | +36.4% |
| 8 | Carolinas | $2.24 | -1.1% | +36.4% |
| 9 | South Central | $2.07 | -4.1% | +26.6% |
| 10 | Florida-So Georgia | $1.49 | -2.5% | +33.5% |
The top 10 origins carried 87.8% of all U.S. outbound loads moved this week. Lower Atlantic led week over week, up 2.1%, while most other leading origins eased as summer volumes softened.
Market conditions
Dry van demand strengthened while capacity kept leaving the market. Load posts rose 12.3% week over week and 22.2% year over year, while truck posts fell 10.0% on the week and sit 31.9% below last year. With freight building at month-end and trucks pulling back at once, the load-to-truck ratio jumped to 12.01 from 9.62 a week earlier, far above the 6.69 of a year ago.
Spot vs. contract
[Editor’s note: spot-vs-contract figures were not included in this week’s source doc. Analyst to supply before publishing.]
Short-term outlook
The 35-day DAT Rate Forecast puts dry van spot linehaul at $2.15 per mile in early October, within an uncertainty band of about plus or minus $0.08 per mile, or 3.5% of the forecast point. Across equipment, the dry van band ranks widest. That end-of-forecast rate stands about $0.46 per mile above the actual rate near the same date a year earlier, $1.69 per mile.
