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The Load Letter

Freight market news for freight brokers · by a freight broker

The Load Letter · Issue of August 16, 2026

Van and reefer went dead even at $2.65

Rates climbed while volumes fell. Your routing guide is the first thing that breaks.

By Andrew Sarris, a working freight broker · · 881 words

Week of August 10–August 15, 2026

The market flipped this week, and most desks are still reading last year's playbook. Spot rates climbed while freight volumes fell, DAT logged the biggest June-to-July contract jump on record for van and reefer, and dry van and reefer sat dead even at $2.65 in the middle of August. That is not demand coming back. That is trucks leaving, and it means your soft-market coverage strategy is about to get you burned.

01Rates Climbed While Freight Volumes Fell

DAT recorded the largest June-to-July contract rate increase on record for dry van and reefer, and rates rose even as volumes dropped across all three equipment types. Dean Croke flat out said he hasn't seen a capacity-driven market like this one. Three years of freight recession flushed out carriers, and the trucks still standing finally have the leverage.

02Hormuz Attacks Pushed Diesel Into Your Margin

Two tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz pushed Brent up again, and the US is now bracing for oil supply disruption running through the end of 2027. Diesel held at $5.26 a gallon all week, and small carriers feel that within days, not quarters. That is the exact truck that parks when things get tight.

03Long Beach Posted Second-Busiest July On Record

The Port of Long Beach just logged its second-busiest July ever, a wave of import freight nobody expected to hold this strong. That containerized volume has to move inland on wheels, and it's landing on top of an already-thin truck market. Watch drayage out of SoCal and eastbound I-10 and I-40 tighten over the next two to three weeks.

This week's numbers

Dry Van$2.65/mi
Reefer$2.65/mi
Flatbed$2.83/mi
Diesel$5.26/gal

Source: DAT and EIA  ·  Week of August 11, 2026

This week's cold email line

Dry van and reefer closed the week dead even at $2.65 a mile in the middle of August, and if your carriers are already telling you no, that's the capacity story hitting your routing guide first.

Use this on mid-to-large shippers with static annual routing guides, especially van and reefer accounts on long-haul lanes. Van-reefer parity in August is the kind of anomaly a procurement person can't explain away, so it opens the repricing conversation for you.

Outbound  ·  Done-for-you prospecting

The market gives you the angle.
Outbound puts it in the inbox.

Every angle above only earns money when it lands in front of a shipper. Outbound is the done-for-you version: I research your target shippers, write the sequences in your voice, and keep the follow-ups going while you cover freight.

This week's sources

That is the read for this week.

Andrew
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