Truckload spot rates rose across all three equipment types in May despite lower overall freight volumes, according to DAT data. The driver isn't demand — it's a shrinking capacity base that's keeping rates elevated even when fewer loads are moving.
For produce shippers, this is a meaningful signal. Tighter capacity during a period of high summer volume — stone fruit, melons, berries — means the cost of moving perishables isn't coming down anytime soon. Carriers have less slack in the network than the load count implies.
Watch for this to compound as summer produce peaks in July. If capacity stays constrained and volumes pick back up, spot rates could push meaningfully higher heading into the heart of the season.