PORTLAND, Ore.– Trucking companies received the highest truckload rates from freight brokers and other intermediaries in 24 percent of routes in the U.S. throughout the second quarter, according to a new report released today by TransCore. The report, “Spot Market Rates vs. Contract Rates,” is the first of a series showing the dynamics of the spot market, examining the influences of seasonal and regional demand on pricing for truckload (TL) and less-than-truckload (LTL) freight transportation. The data was taken from the company’s Truckload Rate Index and is based on $5 billion of actual invoices updated daily for vans, reefers, and flatbeds across the United States and Canada.

The report highlights the ten Midwestern states accounting for nearly half of the higher paying routes, and the shift in May through June to ten states in the Southeast. In April the average difference between spot and contract rates on the higher paying lanes was $.19 per mile. By June that figure had risen to $.24 per mile.

The report also includes the top 10 van markets from April through June.

Spot market rates are rates paid to the carrier by freight brokers and other freight intermediaries.

Additional rate information, including the truckload rate trend of the week, can be found in TransCore Trendlines, a weekly online publication. Trendlines publishes key indicators from TransCore’s DAT Network of load boards, a marketplace for more than 60 million loads and trucks listed annually by freight brokers, 3PLs, shippers and carriers across the United States. TransCore Trendlines also includes transportation industry data from the American Trucking Associations and the U.S. Department of Energy.