The August Freight Market at a Glance

“August handed shippers the first break of the summer, and it was a small one. Van pricing came off eight cents. What our team is watching, though, is not the eight cents. It is the fact that a softening market still prices van freight 35.8% above where it sat last August.”

Executive Summary

August was the month the summer run finally paused. Van rates settled at $3.07 per mile, eight cents off July and twelve cents off June’s record, while reefer eased to $3.47 and flatbed slipped to $3.81. For shippers who spent June and July absorbing rate increases, that is welcome news. However, it is also a much smaller break than the headlines suggest.

The number that matters more to freight budgets is the year-over-year comparison. Van still prices 35.8% above August 2025, and flatbed sits 41.6% higher. Step deck, meanwhile, did not move at all and remains 74.4% above last year. Carrier operating costs, led by fuel and insurance, have therefore reset the floor under spot pricing, and that floor is not coming back down to 2025 levels.

One clear correction did land, and it came in specialty open deck. RGN gave back 81 cents to $5.11 per mile, the sharpest single-month move in any equipment type we track. Similarly, cross-border volume normalized hard, falling to 896 loads after July’s nearshoring surge. Even so, that figure still runs 9.0% ahead of 2025.

Below, we break down where pricing actually eased, where it did not, and what shippers should lock down before September tightens.

Van rates gave back eight cents, not the market

Van priced at $3.07 per mile in August, down 2.5% month-over-month and the first sequential decline of the summer. Against August 2025, however, it is still up 35.8%. External benchmarks agree with what we see in our lanes, since DAT and SONAR show national dry van holding in the $3.05 to $3.10 range through late August.

Step deck did not budge, and flatbed barely did

Step deck held exactly flat at $4.50 per mile, up 74.4% year-over-year and the tightest equipment type in the market. Flatbed, similarly, came off just four cents to $3.81, though it remains 41.6% higher than last year. Industrial fabrication, clean energy components, and municipal infrastructure work continue to soak up open deck capacity. As a result, shippers moving this freight got no relief in August.

RGN corrected sharply, opening a window on project freight

RGN dropped 13.7% month-over-month to $5.11 per mile after July’s spike, which cut its year-over-year premium to 19.4%, the smallest of any equipment type. Conestoga also eased, down 4.9% to $3.71. For shippers with heavy haul or oversize moves on the calendar, therefore, this is the softest specialty pricing since spring.

Cross-border volume normalized after a record July

International shipments in our network totaled 896 loads in August, down 33.8% from July’s 1,353. Still, that runs above the 2026 year-to-date average of 790 and 9.0% ahead of the 2025 baseline. Importers front-loaded heavily ahead of tariff deadlines, so August shipments were pulled forward rather than eliminated.

Capacity is still tight where it counts

The Outbound Tender Reject Index held near 13.5% to 14.0% across van and reefer through August. Rejection rates at that level mean carriers are still turning down contracted freight. In other words, routing guides are meaningfully tighter than anything shippers dealt with in 2024 or 2025, and softer spot pricing did not loosen primary coverage.

August 2026 spot rate benchmarks by equipment type

“Eight cents off van is a plateau, not a reset. Shippers who read August as the start of a falling market are going to be shopping for capacity in the same week everyone else is.”

The most important shift in August had nothing to do with the rate table. Through the spring, a meaningful share of loads moved at a loss so that brokers could hold shipper relationships together. That share ran above 11% in May, fell to 8.5% in July, and then landed at 6.5% in August.

Shippers should read that trend carefully, because it describes a subsidy that is being withdrawn. Brokers spent the last quarter absorbing the gap between contracted pricing and what it actually cost to buy the truck. During August, however, contract pricing got revised and carrier pay got adjusted, so the gap closed. Consequently, lanes that have been quietly running below cost on your behalf are getting repriced, and a routing guide that looked stable through the summer may not stay that way through renewal season.

Meanwhile, the cost pressure underneath all of this has not eased. Geopolitical friction involving Iran and crude supply concerns have pushed Brent back toward the $90 to $100 per barrel range, which keeps fuel surcharges elevated and holds a firm floor under linehaul pricing. Insurance costs also continue to climb. Neither of those reverses on a seasonal calendar.

The contract to spot relationship looks different than it did in the spring as well. Over the last 90 days, shippers realigned routing guide pricing upward, which narrowed the gap that made spot look punishing in June. Overall, that is a healthier setup heading into Q4. Even so, the contract rate you negotiated now sits closer to the market rate, with less cushion if September tightens.

Turning to demand, the macro picture reads steady rather than weak. Consumer spending and equity markets have plateaued, which points to non-recessionary freight volume through the end of Q3. Combine flat demand with retail restocking, agricultural harvest, and quarter-end shipping pushes, and September looks like a month of regional capacity pockets rather than a broad market. Therefore, a structural collapse in rates is not the scenario we are planning around.

What This Means for Shippers

• Do not extrapolate eight cents. One down month after two record months is a plateau. Therefore, build September and Q4 budgets off the year-over-year floor rather than the month-over-month direction.
• Lock open deck capacity now. Step deck showed zero movement and flatbed showed almost none. So if you have industrial, energy, or infrastructure freight in Q4, secure that capacity before harvest and quarter-end pull trucks away.
• Move project freight into the RGN window. Heavy haul and oversize pricing came off 13.7% in a single month. If an oversize move can be pulled forward, then August pricing is the best entry point since spring.
• Protect routing guide compliance. With tender rejections near 13.5% to 14.0%, primary carriers are already declining freight. Compliance is therefore what keeps you out of the spot market in the weeks when spot gets expensive again.
• Expect repricing conversations, and get ahead of them. The share of loads moving below cost fell from 8.5% to 6.5%. As a result, lanes that were being carried at a loss are the ones most likely to come back for adjustment. Identify yours before renewal instead of during it.
• Model fuel at $90 to $100 Brent. Surcharge relief is not part of the near-term picture, so assume the cost floor holds.
• Plan cross-border in windows, not averages. Tariff deadlines and Section 301 updates are creating lumpy month-to-month volume. Instead of working from a smooth forecast, book customs-sensitive freight against policy dates.

About Circle Logistics

Circle Logistics is a technology-forward freight brokerage specializing in truckload, reefer, flatbed, and specialized equipment freight. Powered by real-time market data and a performance-driven culture, Circle helps shippers and carriers navigate volatility with confidence.