FreightWaves added a SONAR measure, the Contract Rate Change Direction index (CRCD.USA), that tracks how much shippers pay under new truckload contracts compared with the rates they replaced. The index stood at 13.11% on Oct. 22, up from 3.53% a year earlier.

The index averages the percentage difference between a new contract base rate and the previous rate within an established shipper-carrier relationship. It counts a change only when the old rate had held steady for more than 90 days, which filters short-term noise and isolates bid-cycle repricing. The reading is a seven-day rolling average updated daily and covers only contracts that are changing.

The chart header lists an average of 3.47% across the plotted period from early 2022 through October 2026. The line fell to roughly negative 10% in 2023 and climbed above 10% in mid-2026.

Contract resets ran at roughly 3% to 4% starting in late 2024, yet the average contract rate index (VCRPM1) showed flat to slightly lower invoiced rates through most of 2025. Tender rejection rates jumped above 9% nearly a year ago and have averaged close to 13% over the past few months. Contract increases still arrive above 10%.

FreightWaves notes that contract rate changes lag rejection rates and that the index leads invoice data directionally without predicting whether increases hold. FMCSA and tender data suggest capacity has not grown meaningfully over the past 12 months, and the average increase should moderate as carriers move onto more financially healthy contracts.

Source: FreightWaves - https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truckload-contract-rate-increases-riding-steady-above-10