DAT says spot fell in August; Cass says its all-market linehaul index edged up

Two August freight reports look like they disagree, but they measure different things. DAT Freight & Analytics said the national average dry van spot linehaul rate fell 20 cents from July to $2.19 a mile, below the $2.41 a mile it reported for van contract freight. Cass Information Systems said its Truckload Linehaul Index rose 0.7% from July. DAT’s release gives rates in dollars per mile without naming a currency, and its benchmarks cover the United States and Canada. Cass does not name a currency for its index either.

What DAT reported

DAT’s release, dated September 15, says its benchmark spot and contract rates are drawn from invoices for hauls of at least 250 miles, across the United States and Canada. DAT defines spot rates as what brokers pay carriers load by load, and contract rates as negotiated prices paid by shippers. Its linehaul figures leave out an average fuel surcharge.

All three equipment types fell from July. Van spot went to $2.19 a mile, reefer fell 14 cents to $2.61 and flatbed fell 20 cents to $2.70. DAT said each was its largest July-to-August drop on record, going back 16 years. Van fell 8.4%, against a previous August record of 6.7% in 2018. Reefer fell 5.1% and flatbed 6.9%. DAT also said a July-to-August dip is common, having happened in 13 or 14 of its 16 years of data, depending on the equipment type.

Van spot sat 22 cents under contract, $2.19 versus $2.41, where July had the two near parity. Reefer spot was 4 cents under, $2.61 versus $2.65, after running 13 cents over contract in July. On flatbed, DAT said contract stayed higher than spot through the summer, with the difference growing from 19 cents in July to 38 cents in August. The release does not print a flatbed contract rate.

DAT said spot linehaul rates for all three types were still more than 30% above August 2025. The release does not give the August 2025 dollar figures. Its Truckload Volume Index, which counts loads moved, put van volume at 247 in August, down 5% from July and roughly flat from a year earlier.

Dean Croke, DAT’s principal industry analyst, said the lower rates and volumes mostly come from ordinary seasonal weakness, plus shipments that customers moved ahead of schedule in the summer. He added that trucks became scarcer during CVSA Brake Safety Week yet rates still eased, “suggesting much cooler demand for trucks.” That is his reading, not a measured result.

What Cass reported

Cass’s August report, published September 14 and written by Tim Denoyer of ACT Research, puts its Truckload Linehaul Index at 153.9, up 0.7% from July and 11.3% from August 2025. Cass says the index covers the entire for-hire truckload market, spot and contract combined. FreightWaves, reporting on the release, said the index has historically leaned heavily toward contract rates, and that the data comes from freight bills Cass pays.

Cass said spot rates are slipping slightly from month to month, while the far larger contract segment is moving up. That is Cass’s characterization of its own index. Cass does not publish a separate spot-versus-contract comparison.

Cass’s shipments index, which counts freight volume rather than price, stood at 1.038. It rose 2.1% from a year earlier, the first annual gain since January 2023 and the end of a 42-month downturn. Cass said it hesitates to call this a major improvement in demand, because the seasonally adjusted 5.0% monthly rise roughly offsets earlier declines.

Where they agree and where they differ

On a year-over-year basis the two point the same way: DAT reports spot more than 30% above last August, and Cass reports its all-market index up 11.3%. The difference is month over month. DAT’s van spot fell 8.4% while Cass’s blended index rose 0.7%. Because Cass says its index covers spot and contract together, and FreightWaves says it leans toward contract, a small rise in the blend is compatible with a large fall in spot. Neither source says how much of each moved.

What is not established

Cass’s report also carries an outlook. It says “the bottom is probably in” and that freight growth should continue, though likely modest, and it lists oil prices, inflation and interest rates as elevated risks. Those are ACT Research’s views, and Cass notes that such opinions may differ from its own. DAT’s Croke points to cooler demand for trucks, so the two outlooks are not the same. Neither report says whether August’s spot decline is a pause or the start of a longer move.

What to watch, in our reading: the next DAT release will show whether van and reefer spot stay under contract, as they did in August.