Rates for spot market freight have barely changed for the third straight week, according to a new snapshot of the market from the freight matching service provider DAT Solutions.

The average for vans and flatbeds Oct. 19 through Oct. 25 compared to the previous seven days was unchanged at $2.01 and $2.38 per mile, respectively. This came despite declining load volume for vans, which usually would send the average rate lower, while the flatbed rate remained at a four-week low.

The average reefer rate posted a slight decline of 0.4% for $2.27 per mile, its lowest performance out of the past four weeks.

This happened as truckload demand for freight hauling services and truck capacity are near “equilibrium,” according to DAT, with the number of spot market loads falling 5.7% while spot market truck capacity increased 1.9%.

This naturally led to declines in load-to-truck ratios in all three categories, with flatbeds posting the biggest drop, 12%, coming in at 19.2 loads per truck, while vans fell 7.2% to 2.6 loads per truck. Reefers fell the least, 1.7%, for a ratio of 7.6 loads per truck.

Despite rates improving little if any the past three weeks, DAT forecast earlier this month that freight rates are expected to increase for the upcoming holiday season in the company’s Freight Talk Blog.

Last week DAT described the rates as relatively strong for this time of the year.