Spot market freight volumes reported by the DAT North American Freight Index rose another 0.4 percent in August, edging above July levels. Freight volume typically peaks on the spot market in June, but this year has extended through the entire summer.

Month-over-month load availability increased for vans and refrigerated ("reefer") trailers, while flatbed load volume experienced a typical seasonal decline. Freight volume rose 3.1 percent for vans and 3.8 percent for reefers, but declined 5.1 percent for flatbeds.

Compared to August 2012, freight availability rose 13 percent overall. Van freight volume rose 10 percent, reefer loads increased 22 percent and flatbed freight added 14 percent.

Spot market rates remained stable for vans in August compared to July. In a typical seasonal pattern, rates declined 3.0 percent for reefers and 1.8 percent for flatbeds. On a year-over-year basis, van rates rose 2.3 percent and reefer rates gained 1.9 percent, while flatbed rates declined 4.6 percent compared to the unusually high rates of August 2012. Additional trend information and analysis is available at DAT Trendlines or the DAT blog.