Spot Beat Contract For The First Time Since 2022

Dry van spot topped contract rates this week for the first time since 2022, and it's not because freight demand surged. FTR's Trucking Conditions Index hit a record high, Class 8 orders posted their biggest year-over-year gain in seven months, and DAT confirmed it all comes down to trucks leaving the market faster than freight is growing. That means your contract book just became a mixed bag, a liability on some lanes and a goldmine on others, and the desks that figure out which is which first are the ones who win this quarter.

Say this

This is the week to go back to shippers who think demand is booming and correct the record before they overpay or underbid. Tell them straight: rates are up because capacity left, not because their freight got hot, and that's exactly why now is the time to lock a rate before the next truck leaves the market too. For your own contract book, pull the lanes where you're underpriced relative to spot and go renegotiate before the shipper's next RFP does it for you. And for your core carriers, this is not the moment to squeeze them on rate, because they have options now that they didn't have in the spring.

Say this

Use this to close shippers who've been burned, or who are scared of being burned. Tell them you verify MC numbers, insurance, and physical carrier identity on every single load, not just the ones that feel risky, and that your file on every carrier you've ever booked is documentation ready if it ever needs to be. Shippers are hearing about theft rings and liability rulings in their own trade press right now, so lead with this line: while everyone else races to cover freight, you're still checking who's actually driving it. That's a differentiator you can say out loud on a first call, and it costs you nothing but discipline.

Say this

If you've got any shipper importing through those ports, call them this week, not after the surge lands. Open with this: your ocean rate just doubled and your inventory is going to hit the dock earlier than you planned, is your drayage and inland capacity actually locked for it. That question gets you in the door because most shippers are watching the ocean rate and haven't thought past the ocean leg yet. Book the surge now, but tell them straight this is a pull-forward, so don't let them plan their Q3 budget assuming this volume holds past early August.

Dry Van

$2.49/mi

Reefer

$3.10/mi

Flatbed

$2.69/mi

Diesel

$4.58/gal

This week's cold email line

Your ocean rate just doubled, your inventory is landing weeks early, and July 24th is coming whether your drayage is booked or not.

This lands with any importer running Long Beach, Savannah, Houston, or the New York-New Jersey complex right now, because the Section 122 tariff deadline has them front-loading containers and most haven't thought past the ocean leg yet.

Outbound  ·  Done-for-you prospecting

The market gives you the angle.
Outbound puts it in the inbox.

Every angle above only earns money when it lands in front of a shipper. Outbound is the done-for-you version: I research your target shippers, write the sequences in your voice, and keep the follow-ups going while you cover freight.