Flatbed spot linehaul moved down for the week ending August 28 without giving back its much larger annual gain. DAT Freight & Analytics reported a national average of $2.67 per mile, excluding fuel and surcharges. That was 3 cents, or 1.2%, below the prior week, but 65 cents, or 32.2%, above the comparable week last year and 56 cents above DAT's nine-year seasonal average.
The boundaries around that number matter. DAT describes a spot-market sample of loads that are not already covered by a hauling contract, while the Bureau of Transportation Statistics says spot loads account for roughly one-tenth of the common-carrier trucking market. The figure therefore is neither an all-in carrier payment nor a national contract-rate index, and it should not be applied unchanged to a specific lane, commodity or customer agreement.
Inside DAT's network, the availability split widened in both directions. Flatbed load posts rose 8.8% from the prior week and 43.5% from a year earlier. Truck posts fell 8.8% for the week and 27.1% year over year. The resulting load-to-truck ratio reached 41.84, up from 35.09 one week earlier and 21.27 in the comparable 2025 week.
That ratio is a marketplace balance, not a census of every shipment or power unit. A posted load can change, expire or appear through more than one channel, and a truck posted to DAT is not the same thing as every truck legally available in the country. FreightNews reads the simultaneous rise in load posts and fall in truck posts as a tighter negotiating environment within the measured spot network, not proof of a nationwide equipment shortage.
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Regional detail shows why a national average still needs a lane check. DAT's ten bellwether states produced a moves-weighted outbound rate of $3.32 per mile, down 0.9% for the week and up 31.5% year over year. Those states represented 52.2% of U.S. state-outbound flatbed loads in the analysis. Most of DAT's leading origin regions softened week over week even though every listed region remained at least 27% above its year-earlier rate.
DAT's 35-day forecast places flatbed spot linehaul near $2.65 per mile in early October, with an uncertainty band of about 7 cents in either direction. The provider compares that point with an actual $2.07 near the same date last year. A forecast band is a planning range, not a booked rate or a promise that capacity, fuel, weather and shipment mix will remain unchanged.
For carriers, FreightNews infers that the useful response is quote discipline rather than chasing the national number. Separate linehaul from fuel, deadhead, accessorials, securement work and appointment risk; set a short validity window; and record the exact origin, destination, commodity, dimensions and loading requirements behind the offer. A high load-to-truck ratio can strengthen a bid position without making an unsuitable or poorly specified load profitable.
For brokers and shippers, the same split argues for comparing current lane evidence before treating the weekly dip as relief. Check more than one capacity source, disclose cargo and securement requirements early, and distinguish a one-week rate move from the year-over-year cost gap. The national signal is that flatbed spot conditions in DAT's network remain expensive and tight by recent comparisons; the operating decision still belongs to the shipment in front of the desk.