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 Rates firm, capacity tightens, volumes change, and planning assumptions become outdated before teams have time to adjust.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.
May 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 May 27 2026
Market Update - Shippers
May 2026 Update
Chaos Is Costly—For the Shippers Who Don’t Prepare
May brings a tighter and more expensive transportation planning environment for shippers. ACT’s latest Freight Forecast shows spot market conditions tightened meaningfully around Roadcheck, with dry van load-to-truck ratios and rates reaching new cycle highs. Contract rates are also moving higher, signaling that prior spot-market strength is beginning to work through the procurement cycle.
The market is not tightening because freight demand has surged. The Cass Freight Index® – Shipments component remains an important demand-side check: shipments have improved modestly but remain below prior-cycle norms on a seasonally adjusted basis. The shipper takeaway is that cost and service pressure are being driven primarily by constrained capacity, driver availability pressure, and supply-side disruption against stabilizing freight activity.
For shippers, this is a narrowing planning window. Transportation teams that benchmark rates, test routing guide resilience, and strengthen carrier commitments now will be better positioned if capacity tightens further through bid season.
Use Current Rate Stability to Benchmark and Rebuild Cost Models
Spot rates are firmer, and contract pricing is beginning to follow. From a procurement perspective, this is the time to reassess lane-level cost assumptions before tighter conditions become fully embedded in contract renewals. Shippers should monitor spot-contract spreads, tender acceptance, carrier availability, and how quickly rate pressure moves from transactional freight into routing guides.
This is the right time to:
· Reassess cost-to-serve by lane and mode using updated fuel, labor, insurance, and accessorial assumptions
· Rebalance modal strategies where tighter truckload conditions improve intermodal competitiveness
· Rebuild routing guides and backup coverage before capacity becomes more difficult to secure
Underlying tightening signals are becoming more pronounced:
· Driver availability is tightening
· Spot rates are leading contract rates higher
· Capacity is less abundant than it was through the prior downcycle
· Freight demand is stabilizing, but not accelerating broadly
Shippers who secure core capacity, deepen carrier commitments, and improve routing guide resiliency now will be better positioned to control cost and protect service as the cycle advances.
Track Equipment Signals to Stay Ahead of Service Risk
Equipment conditions matter for service reliability because carrier investment decisions affect capacity quality, uptime, and replacement timing. ACT’s latest Classes 5–8 report shows Class 8 demand is being supported by stronger freight rates, tighter capacity, and regulatory clarity, while April order movement reflected normal seasonality before 2027 orderboards open later this year.
Used truck signals are also relevant. ACT’s May Used Trucks report shows April same-dealer used Class 8 retail activity improved year over year, while average pricing moved higher. For shippers, improving used values may support carrier trade-cycle confidence, but higher equipment costs and financing sensitivity still argue for monitoring carrier financial health and replacement discipline.
Shippers should use this window to audit:
· Carrier fleet age and maintenance discipline
· Emissions compliance readiness for 2026–2027
· Balance-sheet strength and exposure to fuel and financing volatility
Prioritizing carriers with stronger financial footing, reliable equipment, and clear compliance strategies can reduce disruption risk as capacity tightens.
Plan for Policy-Led and Capacity-Led Volatility in 2026
Regulatory timing and capacity conditions remain central to shipper planning. EPA 2027 may influence replacement timing, equipment costs, and procurement windows. ACT’s latest Classes 5–8 report indicates regulatory clarity has supported order activity alongside improving freight conditions.
Driver-related policy changes, FMCSA activity, ELD scrutiny, and Roadcheck-related tightening are also affecting available capacity. ACT’s May Commercial Vehicle Outlook notes that a cyclical driver shortage is emerging for the first time since the previous shortage cycle ended in early 2022. These signals matter because they may affect tender acceptance, lane reliability, routing guide depth, and transportation budget planning.
Potential ripple effects include:
· Higher spot exposure in tightening lanes
· More pressure on contract renewals as spot strength filters through
· Regional or equipment-specific service constraints
· Greater value in intermodal or dedicated capacity where network fit supports it
For shippers, the strategy remains preparation—not reaction.
Actions to take now:
· Scorecard carriers on regulatory readiness, fuel efficiency, and fleet modernization plans
· Build modal flexibility into core networks
· Add carrier redundancy in tightening lanes
· Incorporate fuel and capacity volatility into contract structures where appropriate
The market is no longer as oversupplied as it was through the prior cycle. Capacity is tightening, rate floors are rising, and service risk is becoming more lane-specific. Shippers that act during this transitional window will be better positioned to control costs and protect service continuity as 2026 progresses.
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.