PORTLAND, Ore.-- According to TransCore Trendlines, a weekly barometer for truckload freight moved on the spot market, van rates nationwide increased 1.8 percent over the past two weeks. TransCore’s DAT Network of load boards reported record high load posting activity in February, driving linehaul rates up across the country.

Van rates received assistance over the past two weeks from major markets including Dallas (up 4.2 percent), Atlanta (up 3.5 percent) and Chicago (up 2.6 percent). This steady uptick in the first half of February marks the beginning of a positive trend for vans. Outbound freight originating in the Los Angeles spot market continues to weaken, with the highest rate decline for vans (-4.6 percent) and reefers (-1.6 percent). Spot market rates are the rates freight brokers and 3PLs pay to carriers.

Rates for refrigerated (“reefer”) trucks increased 0.4 percent over the past week, a positive change from January’s downward trend, and were led by a 2.5 percent increase in lanes rates from Atlanta.

A more detailed analysis of weekly truckload rate trends can be found on TransCore Trendlines.

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 United States and Canada. The truckload rate trend of the week is a feature of TransCore Trendlines, a weekly subscription with key indicators from TransCore's U.S. Freight Index, based on more than 60 million loads and trucks listed annually by freight brokers, 3PLs, shippers and carriers across the United States. TransCore Trendlines also includes industry data from the American Trucking Associations and the U.S. Department of Energy.