Freight Intelligence for Shippers
See where freight rates, volumes, and capacity conditions may be headed — and understand what those signals mean for your budget, bid, pricing, and planning decisions.
ACT Research helps transportation leaders look beyond current market conditions with forward-looking freight forecasts, rate and volume intelligence, and analyst interpretation. Use ACT’s Freight Forecast: Rate & Volume Outlook to better understand where freight markets may be headed, how rate and capacity conditions could change, and what those shifts may mean for your next planning decision.
Get a Freight Forecast PreviewStill reacting to freight market changes after they happen?
Freight markets can shift quickly. Rates firm, capacity tightens, volumes change, and planning assumptions become outdated before teams have time to adjust.
ACT helps shippers, brokers, carriers, and transportation leaders move from reacting to market volatility to planning with a clearer view of what may come next.
Unexpected Rate Movement
Freight costs can shift before budgets, bids, and pricing strategies are ready.
Tighter Capacity Conditions
When available truckload capacity becomes less abundant, service and cost pressures can rise quickly.
Fragmented Market Inputs
Internal spreadsheets, public data, and market headlines rarely provide a complete forward-looking view on their own.
Unclear Planning Assumptions
When forecasts feel disconnected from the market cycle, it becomes harder to defend long-term plans.
April 2026 Update
Chaos Is Cash—For the Shippers Who Prepare
Plan freight decisions with a clearer view of what comes next.
Freight Forecast: Rate & Volume Outlook gives transportation teams a forward-looking view of rate and volume trends so they can plan with more confidence and fewer surprises.
Use ACT’s freight forecasting intelligence to:
- Plan 12–36 months ahead with forward-looking rate and volume forecasts that help strengthen budgets, bid strategies, and long-term assumptions.
- Prepare for procurement conversations with a clearer view of capacity conditions, contract-rate direction, and freight-cycle timing.
- Identify risk earlier by tracking freight, capacity, economic, and equipment-cycle signals before they affect cost, service, or margin.
- Support better operating decisions with intelligence that connects market direction to service expectations, routing strategy, carrier relationships, and resource planning.
Freight forecasts backed by experience, data, and analyst interpretation.
ACT’s freight forecasts combine proprietary market data, proven methodology, and analyst interpretation to help transportation leaders understand where the freight cycle may be headed.
For more than 35 years, ACT has helped customers evaluate transportation markets with a disciplined, forward-looking view.
35+ Years of Industry Expertise
Proprietary Data
Methodology
Assuring rail equipment capacity for our intermodal stakeholders is imperative at TTX Company. Meeting this goal requires accurate freight demand forecasting which, in turn, necessitates an understanding of market conditions and issues. ACT Research’s monthly Freight Forecast complements our internal research and analysis by providing keen insight on demand drivers, as well as emerging and evolving trends. The report’s content is well-written, and the information provided is organized and easy to access and interpret.
Frank Adcock
AVP Marketing, TTX Company
What you get with ACT’s Freight Forecast: Rate & Volume Outlook
ACT’s Freight Forecast: Rate & Volume Outlook helps customers understand rate and volume direction across key freight markets and connect that outlook to planning decisions.
Inside the forecast, your team gets a forward-looking view supported by ACT’s market data, forecasting methodology, partner intelligence, and analyst interpretation.
- 36-month freight outlook: Evaluate rate and volume trends over a three-year horizon to support near-term planning and longer-term market assumptions.
- Class 8 tractor supply context: Connect freight conditions to tractor supply, equipment demand, and capacity signals using ACT’s commercial vehicle market expertise.
- Connected market view: Bring together freight data, economic indicators, capacity signals, and analyst interpretation to better understand the full market picture.
- DAT Freight & Analytics partnership: ACT’s partnership with DAT Freight & Analytics provides additional visibility into spot and contract rates, volumes, loads, and equipment postings to support a more detailed view of freight market trends.
Updated April 30, 2026
Market Update - Shippers
April 2026 Update
Shippers Face a More Competitive Freight Market
Transportation conditions continued to shift in April 2026 as tightening truckload capacity, firmer freight rates, and changing carrier dynamics created a more competitive environment for shippers than they faced a year ago.
The market is not tightening because of a broad freight surge. Instead, capacity is becoming less abundant as carrier exits continue, private fleet growth normalizes, and driver availability tightens. For shippers, that means transportation strategy is becoming more important than it was during the soft market cycle.
Procurement Conditions Are Changing
The long period of widespread rate deflation is fading.
Spot truckload rates remain above prior-year levels, and contract pricing is beginning to firm as market leverage gradually shifts back toward carriers. While conditions still vary by lane and mode, shippers should expect procurement conversations to become more balanced and less price-driven than they were in 2024 and 2025.
Service and Routing Guide Discipline Matter More
As capacity tightens, service execution becomes increasingly important.
Routing guide performance, backup carrier coverage, and lane-level visibility can become larger issues when excess capacity leaves the market. Shippers that strengthen core carrier relationships and improve network discipline are typically better positioned than those relying only on transactional spot coverage.
Optionality Still Creates Advantage
Even in a firmer market, shippers still have opportunities to improve results.
Modal flexibility, smarter bid timing, stronger forecasting, and better alignment between procurement and operations teams can help control costs and protect service. Markets do not tighten evenly, which means disciplined shippers can still outperform through planning and execution.
Bottom Line
April market data reinforces that freight conditions are becoming more balanced and more demanding for shippers.
Rates are firming, capacity is tightening, and service strategy matters more than it did during the downturn. For shippers, proactive planning is becoming a competitive advantage again.
Freight Forecast FAQs
Our forecasts aren't guesswork. They're built on ACT Research’s Class 8 supply modeling – a methodology with over 35 years of unparalleled historical accuracy. It's the industry benchmark for predicting capacity and rates.
Absolutely. Click here to get your exclusive Sample Insights Preview. See the depth and format of our reports.
ACT’s freight rate and volume forecasts are updated monthly. Updates are typically published on or near the 13th of each month, depending on the calendar and the release timing of partner data.
Our current forecast provides detailed insights through 2027. This three-year outlook allows you to plan both near-term strategies and longer-term decisions with confidence, using data-driven analysis of market trends and industry dynamics.
Ready to plan freight decisions with more confidence?
ACT’s Freight Forecast: Rate & Volume Outlook helps your team understand where freight rates, volumes, and capacity conditions may be headed — and what those shifts may mean for budgets, bids, pricing, procurement, and long-term planning.
Use forward-looking freight intelligence and analyst interpretation to move from reacting to market changes to planning around them.