Flatbed spot rates fell 8 cents last week, the steepest decline for a comparable week since 2008, according to weekly reports from FTR Transportation Intelligence and DAT Freight and Analytics.

The weakness ran across every major truckload segment. Total broker posted rates dropped more than 7 cents, landing at their lowest level since early April. Dry van spot rates fell just over 7 cents in the FTR data, while DAT put the national dry van linehaul average at $2.25 per mile after a 3 cent decline. Refrigerated rates slipped almost 3 cents by FTR's count and 1 cent in the DAT series, which placed the reefer linehaul average at $2.63 per mile. Flatbed linehaul averaged $2.72 per mile in DAT's numbers following a 7 cent drop.

Volumes moved lower alongside pricing. Dry van loads fell just over 2%, refrigerated loads dropped 2% and flatbed loads declined 3%.

The year over year picture remains far stronger than the weekly numbers suggest. Dry van rates sit almost 35% above the same week in 2025, refrigerated rates are about 35% higher and flatbed rates are up more than 41%.

Refrigerated rates had been climbing for several weeks before this reversal, making the drop the first in that stretch. The combination of falling rates and falling load counts points to seasonal softening in freight demand after a summer run that carried spot pricing well above prior year levels across all three equipment types.

Source: FleetOwner - https://www.fleetowner.com/news/rates/news/55399214/truckload-spot-rates-fall-sharply-as-dry-van-reefer-and-flatbed-rates-decline