U.S. flatbed load‑to‑truck ratio hits 41.73, tightest truckload board

Market Context & Direct Impact

U.S. flatbed is now the tightest truckload board. DAT's flatbed load-to-truck ratio climbed to 41.73 for the week ending 31 October 2026, from 34.93 the week before. Against 23.14 a year earlier, DAT says the board is 80.3% tighter. Derived: the week-on-week rise is about 19%, from inputs 34.93 and 41.73. DAT ranks flatbed as the tightest of its three equipment boards, with a ratio 3.8 times dry van's. These are U.S. national figures; Canadian flatbed rates are not in this data.

Rates are firm, but the weekly price move was small. Flatbed linehaul averaged $2.61 per mile excluding fuel, up $0.01 from the prior week and 25.6% above the nine-year seasonal average of $2.08. That level sits above the top of DAT's historical range for the period. DAT's 35-day forecast projects a slight ease to $2.60 per mile, and DAT warns that the Thanksgiving and year-end slowdown in construction and industrial shipments could cap any firming. ACT Research puts the September aggregate of DAT contract rates at $2.52 per mile excluding fuel, with spot running 16 cents below contract. Fuel is the other lever: the EIA put U.S. on-highway diesel at $6.292 a gallon on 2 November 2026, and its October outlook expects retail diesel to stay above $4 a gallon through 2027. The ratio is rising faster than the rate, which suggests capacity is tightening before price does.

Core Executive Takeaways

• Capacity moves before priceFlatbed's ratio rose about 19% in a week while linehaul gained only $0.01 per mile, a reading that suggests trucks are leaving the board faster than rates are rising.
• Contract resets lag spotACT Research shows September spot running 16 cents below contract, excluding fuel, so flatbed contracts signed now may still look cheap against the market.
• Fuel stays the wildcardWith U.S. diesel at $6.292 a gallon and EIA expecting retail prices above $4 through 2027, fuel can move a flatbed bid as much as linehaul does.

Strategic Playbook

1. 1
   Re-bid the flatbed lanes

   Pull your top flatbed lanes against DAT's lane-level data before the next carrier review, and check whether current contract rates still track the spot market.

2. 2
   Split linehaul from fuel

   Write the fuel surcharge as its own index line in flatbed and van contracts, so a diesel move does not get mistaken for a linehaul increase at renewal.

Filed 09:26 GMT, 5 November 2026, for the first edition of 5 Nov.
As agents only.

Sources

1. Flatbed Report: Tightest board gets tighter as truck posts fall 10%DAT Freight & Analytics, published 2 November 2026
2. Freight Trucking Rates: October 2026 UpdateACT Research, published 27 October 2026
3. Gasoline and Diesel Fuel UpdateU.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), published 3 November 2026
4. Short-Term Energy Outlook: U.S. Petroleum ProductsU.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), published 6 October 2026

Claims ledger: 13 facts and where each comes from

• DAT's flatbed load-to-truck ratio climbed to 41.73 for the week ending 31 October 2026, from 34.93 the week before.¹
• Compared with 23.14 a year earlier, DAT says the flatbed board is 80.3% tighter.¹
• Derived: the week-on-week rise in the flatbed load-to-truck ratio is about 19%, from inputs 34.93 and 41.73.¹
• DAT says flatbed remains the tightest of its three equipment boards, with a ratio 3.8 times dry van's.¹
• Flatbed linehaul averaged $2.61 per mile excluding fuel last week, up $0.01 from the prior week and 25.6% above the nine-year seasonal average of $2.08.¹
• DAT places that flatbed linehaul level above the top of its historical range.¹
• DAT's 35-day rate forecast projects flatbed linehaul to ease to $2.60 per mile, against $2.61 last week.¹
• DAT warns that the Thanksgiving and year-end slowdown in construction and industrial shipments could cap any firming in flatbed rates.¹
• ACT Research puts the aggregate of DAT dry van, reefer and flatbed contract rates at $2.52 per mile excluding fuel in September, down 1 cent from August.²
• ACT Research puts the aggregate spot rate 16 cents below the contract rate in September, excluding fuel.²
• ACT Research notes that higher diesel costs can reduce the linehaul share a carrier keeps, even when the all-in price has not eased by the same amount.²
• The EIA's weekly U.S. on-highway diesel retail price was $6.292 a gallon on 2 November 2026, down 0.060 from the week before.³
• The EIA's October outlook expects U.S. distillate inventories to stay below the 2021–2025 average, keeping retail diesel above $4 a gallon through 2027.⁴

Every figure above is tied to a cited source that was checked on the day of filing. Found an error? Tell the desk.