United States truckload spot rates climbed to $2.01 per mile, rebounding from $1.65 in late 2025, according to freight rate tracking data. Contract rates moved up in parallel to $2.12 per mile from $1.99 over the same stretch, marking a fourth consecutive month of increases across both pricing mechanisms and signaling a firmer market for carriers.

Capacity tightness sits behind the move. Tender rejections, a measure of how often carriers decline offered loads, have hovered near 14 percent, levels not seen consistently since the market unwound after the pandemic surge in 2022. Including fuel, national truckload spot rates have held elevated near $2.80 per mile, up about 23 percent from $2.33 a year earlier. The rate recovery has been driven primarily by supply-side tightening rather than a broad demand surge.

Analysts attribute the constrained capacity to several factors operating at once: limited driver availability, intensified regulatory enforcement, and reduced equipment replacement that has kept some trucks off the road. The pattern points to a market shifting toward carrier advantage through capacity discipline. The data suggests pricing leverage is moving back toward carriers after an extended stretch of soft rates, though the durability of the trend depends on whether capacity stays tight through the rest of the year.

Source: ACT Research -- https://www.actresearch.net/resources/data-tracking/freight-trucking-rates