According to DAT, dry van load postings dropped 49.9% to 618,011, while truck postings dropped 21.9% to 172,876. Refrigerated load postings declined 42.6% to 317,301, while truck postings fell 15.4% to 54,335. Flatbed postings were down 49.2% to 326,464, and truck postings dropped 25.9% to 35,632.
FTR reported a significant drop in load and truck postings, similar to DAT’s report.
Total load activity, a measure of freight volume in the Truckstop system, fell 43.1% compared to the previous week. Load activity was down 11% year over year and nearly 47% below FTR’s five-year average for the week. Additionally, total truck postings fell 16.1%. This brought FTR’s load-to-truck ratio to its lowest level since December.
Dry van loads in Truckstop fell 43.7%, down 13% year over year and sitting 42% below the week’s five-year average. Refrigerated loads fell only 29.5%, a year-over-year increase of 4% but still 34% below the five-year average. Flatbed loads, meanwhile, plunged 47.1%, bringing it down 13% from the previous year and more than 56% below the week’s five-year average.
Across both firms’ reports, dry van and flatbed loads faced the greatest week-over-week decreases. Refrigerated loads also fell drastically, though to a lesser degree.
Relatively stable spot market rates
While volumes plunged, spot market rates were much more stable.
DAT reported mixed results for spot market linehaul rates, with the average rate across all equipment types dropping by 1 cent. Dry van rates averaged $1.70, the same rate as the prior week but a decrease of 2.2% from the same week last year. Refrigerated rates averaged $2.04, up by 1 cent week over week but down 1.5% year over year. Lastly, flatbed rates fell by 3 cents to $2.05 but saw a smaller year-over-year decline of 0.4%.
FTR found that the average broker-posted rate in Truckstop across all three equipment types increased by 1.7 cents. Total rates were down only 0.1% year over year—which is FTR’s strongest year-over-year comparison since June 2022—and 7% below the five-year average for the week. Dry van and refrigerated rates increased, while flatbed rates continued to decline.