Loads accepted on the second tender cost shippers a median 22.02% more in all-in costs than loads accepted on the first tender, according to new truckload datasets released by FreightWaves SONAR. The figure is as of Oct. 20, 2026. Third-tender loads cost 26.44% more. Both premiums rose above 30% around the December holidays, in early February and from late June into July.

The Routing Guide Premium measures the median change in base rate, fuel and accessorial charges a shipper pays a provider on a later tender compared with the first. SONAR measures what shippers pay brokers and carriers, and the figures exclude carrier operating costs and broker margins.

The companion Routing Guide Acceptance Share dataset shows 89.05% of accepted loads were accepted on the first tender as of Oct. 20, below the 12-month average of 91.60%. Second-tender acceptances made up 6.84% of accepted loads and third-tender acceptances made up 4.11%.

A third dataset, Contract Rate Change Direction, stood at 12.58%. That means new contract base rates averaged about 12.6% above the rates they replaced, compared with a 12-month average of 8.34%. The measure counts only changes where the prior contract rate had been stable for more than 90 days, and it has climbed steadily since late 2025.

All three datasets update daily on a seven-day rolling average. SONAR also added carrier watchlists of up to 200 carriers per user, email alerts, inspection search and equipment lookup by VIN or plate to its SearchCarriers tool.

Source: FreightWaves - https://www.freightwaves.com/news/sonar-launches-new-routing-guide-and-contract-rate-data-plus-expanded-searchcarriers-monitoring