What Happened
Werner Enterprises is looking past July’s seasonal slowdown and preparing for this year’s peak season, which the US truckload carrier expects to bring higher rates, FreightWaves reported on 11 August. The company is not treating the July softening as a sign of weakness heading into the final quarter. FreightWaves published no rate figure or percentage with the report, and no forecast range was attached to the carrier’s expectation. The commentary is a carrier view of its own outlook rather than a market-wide rate index.
Published: Tue, 11 Aug 2026 20:54:34 +0000 Source: FreightWaves
What US Truckload Rates Mean for UK Exporters
Most UK exporters shipping to the United States are exposed to US road rates without seeing them itemised. Inland haulage from the port of discharge to a customer’s distribution centre is frequently the largest single variable in a door delivery price, and it moves independently of the sea leg. If US truckload rates firm through Q4 as Werner expects, delivered quotes into the US will follow, even where the ocean rate is flat. Check how your cargo shipping quotations separate the sea freight, the drayage and the linehaul before comparing them.
The July softening is a normal seasonal pattern in the US market rather than a turning point, and Werner’s position is that it does not change the peak outlook. Treat that as carrier commentary and not as market data. One carrier’s rate expectation says something about how the sell side reads capacity, and nothing definitive about what shippers will actually pay. FreightWaves gave no figures alongside the outlook, so there is no percentage to build into a budget. What is usable is the direction of travel it implies for Q4 quoting.
The practical steps are straightforward. Revalidate delivered quotes closer to shipment date rather than relying on a rate sheet issued in the summer, and confirm which Incoterms 2020 term you are trading on, because DAP and DDP leave the seller carrying any US inland increase. Where volumes allow, consolidating into fewer, fuller loads limits exposure to per-mile rate movement. Anyone quoting international freight forwarding into the US should be able to show the inland component and its validity period separately.
Key Takeaway for US-Bound Shippers
Expect firmer US inland haulage into peak season on the carrier’s own reading. The sea leg is only part of a delivered price, so check the validity date on the inland element of every US quote before committing to a fixed selling price.
Market Impact
The inland leg matters most for shippers trading on delivered terms. A UK exporter selling DDP absorbs any increase in US truckload rates between quotation and delivery, which can erase the margin on a fixed-price contract agreed months earlier. Moving to FCA or CIF passes that exposure to the buyer, though it also removes your control over the final mile. That is a commercial decision rather than a freight one, and the time to take it is before Q4 pricing is agreed with US customers.
For importers bringing US-origin goods into the UK, the same pressure applies in reverse on the pre-carriage leg to the port of loading. Firmer domestic rates in the United States raise the cost of moving goods to the terminal, and that feeds into the cargo shipping price you are quoted from origin. Build a review point into Q4 procurement, ask suppliers to confirm what their US inland element covers, and check whether delivery appointment windows at busy distribution centres extend transit times during peak.
Source: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/werner-not-deterred-by-july-slowdown
