Dry van truckload capacity moved back into the US spot market during the week ending September 4, 2026, according to DAT Freight and Analytics. Truck posts rose 1.4 percent week over week while sitting 17.2 percent below the same week a year ago. Load posts slipped 0.9 percent on the week and remained 42.2 percent above last year.

The load-to-truck ratio eased to 11.47 from 11.73 a week earlier. That reading stays well above the 6.68 recorded in the same week of 2025, which points to a market where available equipment trails posted freight by a wide margin.

Regional volume concentration held steady. The top 10 origin regions carried 87.8 percent of all US outbound dry van loads moved during the week. The 10 dry van bellwether states carried 35.7 percent of state-outbound dry van volume, in line with a recent baseline near 35 percent.

DAT cited the latest ISM manufacturing survey as evidence that freight is shifting between lanes. A transportation equipment panelist described volume as steady while flagging a customer moving production from US plants to Mexico. A machinery respondent reported pushing more sourcing offshore to offset costs. Both patterns route volume toward cross-border lanes such as the Laredo gateway and reshape domestic linehaul demand.

Electronics and miscellaneous manufacturing respondents in the same survey pointed to an artificial intelligence driven supply scramble affecting semiconductors and connectors, which adds another layer of variability to freight volumes.

Source: DAT Freight and Analytics - https://www.dat.com/blog/dry-van-report-rates-tick-up-as-truck-capacity-starts-trickling-back