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TransportNewsCA · US · MX corridorFreight markets and cross-border tradeWednesday, November 4, 2026
Rates

U.S. Bank index: shipper freight spend up 32.1% from a year ago as volumes barely move

Spending rose 5.2% from Q2, the strongest annual gain since 2021. Shipments edged up 0.4%. In the Southwest, spend jumped 51.6% year over year.

By Transport News Staff ·
A box truck and passenger cars on Interstate 26 between Chapin and Columbia, South Carolina.
Photo: Thomas Kirchel / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Shippers paid sharply more to move truck freight in the third quarter, even though they moved about the same amount. The U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index for Q3 2026, released Oct. 29, shows the national spending index up 5.2% from the second quarter and 32.1% from a year earlier. U.S. Bank calls it the strongest annual gain since 2021.

Shipments rose just 0.4% from Q2 and 0.5% from Q3 2025.

The national numbers

| Index | Q3 2025 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | |---|---|---|---| | Spend | 183.5 | 230.4 | 242.4 | | Shipments | 75.0 | 75.1 | 75.4 |

U.S. Bank says spending is still below its pandemic peak, but the gap has narrowed.

Why costs are up

The report points to three forces: tighter capacity, elevated diesel and uneven volume. Rates are rising, it says, because federal and state safety officials are enforcing driver rules harder and carriers are not adding trucks. It also says higher diesel prices pushed some carriers out.

Rates in the report come from DAT:

  • Spot: $3.11 a mile, up 3.0% from Q2 and 43.3% from a year earlier.
  • Contract: up 6%, or $0.19 a mile, from Q2 and 26.8% year over year.
  • Fuel: $0.79 a mile, up 4.9% from Q2 and 71.7% year over year.

Diesel hit $6.53 a gallon on Sept. 21. By the last week of the quarter it was $1.80, or 39%, higher than in the first week.

Regions

| Region | Shipments QoQ | Shipments YoY | Spend QoQ | Spend YoY | |---|---|---|---|---| | West | -3.1% | -2.1% | 5.2% | 31.1% | | Midwest | -2.5% | 2.4% | 0.6% | 25.3% | | Northeast | 1.4% | 2.8% | 4.1% | 25.4% | | Southwest | 2.9% | -2.6% | 8.6% | 51.6% | | Southeast | 4.7% | 0.0% | 9.0% | 32.7% |

U.S. Bank says the Southwest jump may reflect tighter capacity from stronger enforcement of cross-border trucking requirements. It adds that the effect cannot be confirmed without data on drivers denied entry.

The demand side

Manufacturing rose 0.2% from Q2. Growth was concentrated in AI, defense and commercial aircraft. Excluding those sectors, it was flat. Food manufacturing fell 0.8% from Q2. Housing starts dropped 3.9%. Data center construction spending rose 22.8% from Q2 and 69.3% from a year earlier.

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