PORTLAND, Ore.--Dry van rates increased 2.3 percent on the spot market nationwide in the two-week period ending April 6. The upward trend was especially notable in West Coast markets, where the spring produce season began to emerge after weather-related delays in March, according to TransCore’s Truckload Rate Index.

Outbound rates from Denver were up 2.4 percent, followed by the key California markets of Los Angeles (up 2.3 percent) and Stockton (up 1.4 percent) over the past two weeks.

Lane rates from Denver to Dallas, which rose by $0.12 (up 11.9 percent) and from Los Angeles to Chicago, which rose by $0.11 (up 13.6 percent), showed the biggest increases for vans over the past two weeks. The only major market decline was in Philadelphia (down 0.8 percent), where the steepest drop was a $0.12 (7 percent) per mile reduction in the lane from Philadelphia to Richmond in the last two weeks.

TransCore’s truckload rate trend of the week is derived from the company’s Truckload Rate Index, based on $4 billion in actual invoices updated daily for vans, reefers and flatbeds across the U.S. and Canada. The truckload rate trend of the week is a feature of TransCore Trendlines, published weekly with key indicators from TransCore's U.S. Freight Index. The Index is based on more than 60 million loads and trucks listed annually by freight brokers, 3PLs, shippers and carriers across the U.S. TransCore Trendlines also includes industry data from the American Trucking Associations and the U.S. Department of Energy