Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, May 22, 2025:
Roadcheck inspection blitz yields usual rates bump
Data from Truckstop and FTR Transportation Intelligence for the week ending May 16 showed expected robust increases in broker-posted spot rates for dry van and refrigerated equipment due to the annual International Roadcheck roadside inspection event.
Roadcheck, held May 13-15, always disrupts the overall truck freight market as drivers seek to avoid the additional hassle and scrutiny -- stronger spot rates and volume are the norm for the week.
Both dry van and refrigerated spot rates posted their largest week-over-week increases since the last Roadcheck blitz in May 2023. At once, flatbed spot rates continued to fall from a $2.67/mile peak reached in April, quite unusual for Roadcheck week, the firms noted. In recent years, Roadcheck has tended to kick off a seasonal rise in dry van and refrigerated spot rates that lasts through the end of June.
Due to a calendar quirk, year-over-year comparisons are skewed because International Roadcheck was a week later in last year's data. Dry van and refrigerated spot rates were considerably higher year over year in the latest week, but they were very close to the levels posted during the 2024 Roadcheck week.
As brokers scrambled to match loads and fewer trucks were available, total load-post activity during the week jumped 34.4%, according to FTR and Truckstop, 2.4% higher than 2024’s Roadcheck week. Truck postings fell 7.1% over the preceding week, the largest decrease since the fifth week of this year.
The total market broker-posted spot rate ticked up less than a cent as a decline in flatbed rates offset most of the gains for van equipment. Total rates were 2.4% higher than they during 2024 Roadcheck. Rates excluding a calculated fuel surcharge -- an adjustment that isolates the portion of all-in rates not needed to recoup fuel costs -- were about 6% higher than they were the week of last year’s Roadcheck.
FTR and Truckstop reported a bump in spot rates during Roadcheck week, though not quite as much as normal due to an unusual dip in flatbed rates.FTR and Truckstop
Dry van spot rates rose 12.3 cents to their highest level in more than 12 weeks. Rates were essentially the same as those recorded during International Roadcheck in 2024. Excluding the fuel estimate, dry van rates were 4% higher than last year. Load posts jumped 44.6%. Volume was about 7% above that during Roadcheck week last year.
Refrigerated spot rates jumped 27.6 cents to their highest level in 17 weeks. Rates were less than 1% higher than those posted during 2024’s Roadcheck week. Excluding fuel, refrigerated rates were, like dry van, up 4% versus last year’s Roadcheck. Reefer loads surged 50.5%, and volume was more than 12% higher than during the 2024 Roadcheck.
[Related: Owner-operators optimistic about freight markets despite uncertainties: Survey]
For flatbed, spot rates fell 3.2 cents for a fourth straight weekly decrease. Rates, which had not fallen during a Roadcheck week since 2012, were still more than 2% higher than they were during the 2024 Roadcheck week given the early-year run-up for flatbed loads. Flatbed loads rose 29.7%, and volume was close to 28% above that during the 2024 Roadcheck week.
It all amounted to a sharp increase for the FTR/Truckstop Market Demand Index to 111.9, the strongest level in six weeks and otherwise the strongest since May 2022.
DAT reported similar trends from its load board, with load postings jumping 28.6% from the previous week and truck postings falling by 14%. DAT observed rate increases during Roadcheck week in all three primary segments, with van rates up 10 cents, reefer rates up 15 cents and flatbed rates up 6 cents.
Rates increases might be offset during Roadcheck, however, for drivers delayed due to an out-of-service violation and/or repair, as the table below illustrates.
Few owner-operators (5%) so far have reported incurring any violation during Roadcheck inspections, much less an out-of-service violation. That's according to Overdrive polling as of midday May 22. If you haven't yet, weigh in with your own Roadcheck experience below.
[Related: Tariffs' impacts on freight markets already being felt]
Truck tonnage declined slightly in April: ATA
Trucking activity in the United States slipped again in April as freight remained choppy early in the second quarter.
Specifically, truck freight tonnage decreased 0.3% after contracting 1.5% in March, according to the American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index.
ATA tracked a slight dip in freight tonnage hauled in April compared to March.ATA
“After surging 2.8% in February, and hitting the highest level since late May 2024, tonnage fell a combined 1.8% in March and April,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Unfortunately, a recovery that was expected this year hasn’t transpired as the industry deals with a freight market in flux from tariffs and softening economic indicators.”
In April, the ATA advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index equaled 113.0, down from 113.3 in March. The index, based on 2015 as 100, was up 0.1% from the same month last year, the fourth straight year-over-year increase, albeit the smallest increase over this period.
The not seasonally adjusted index, which calculates raw changes in tonnage hauled, equaled 112.0 in April, 2.2% below March’s reading of 114.6.
Trucking conditions turned positive in March
Looking back from April to March, FTR this week reported that its Trucking Conditions Index (TCI) for that month saw a slight improvement into positive territory as a result of stronger freight volume and lower fuel costs to close out the first quarter.
The firm reported a TCI reading of 0.28 in March, compared to -0.21 in February. While freight volume and fuel costs were better for motor carriers during the month, weak rates mostly offset those favorable conditions, FTR noted.
While overall market conditions improved marginally for carriers in March, FTR’s forecast for trucking conditions recently deteriorated due to the anticipated effects from tariffs. “Overall market conditions were unusually stable in March, although freight rates remained weak,” said Avery Vise, FTR’s vice president of trucking. “After a strong first quarter in freight volume -- at least partially due to a pull-forward of imports in advance of tariffs -- we expect more volatility in the months ahead as shippers respond to U.S. trade policy shifts.”
Vise added that the recent 90-day agreement between the U.S. and China “greatly reduces the potential near-term hit to freight volumes, but we still expect uncertainty and higher costs for consumers to be drags on the economy and freight.”
One thing Vise said FTR is watching as a “wild card” moving forward “is whether renewed scrutiny concerning truck drivers’ English language skills and non-domiciled CDLs will affect the driver supply significantly.”
[Related: Trump admin reviewing non-domiciled CDLs for foreign drivers: How many are there?]
