Brake checks, cargo losses and divergent truck spot rates in November

By James Calloway

U.S. inspectors placed 2,134 commercial vehicles out of service during the 2026 Brake Safety Week, a 15.1% rate after 14,165 inspections from Aug. 23 through Aug. 29. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance reported the results in a trucking-industry roundup dated Nov. 12.

What did the brake campaign find?

The campaign turned brake compliance into a near-term capacity issue for affected fleets. Every vehicle carrying an out-of-service designation needs repair before it can return to freight duty, so carriers must absorb maintenance time and lost loading windows.

CVSA's figures count vehicles, not carriers or violations, and the roundup supplied no state, defect or fleet-size breakdown. Shippers and forwarders cannot translate the 2,134 stop orders into a national capacity percentage, but they should expect affected fleets to remove those units until repairs clear them.

Why did cargo losses rise despite fewer incidents?

Verisk CargoNet reported that cargo theft and supply-chain crime incidents fell 33% year over year in the third quarter of 2026, covering July through September. Estimated losses climbed 12% to $230.1 million from the same period in 2025.

That split matters: fewer incidents did not mean less damage. Verisk CargoNet, which sells cargo-theft solutions and regularly publishes cargo-theft analysis, reported a 33% frequency decline against a 12% increase in total estimated losses.

For shippers, the $230.1 million loss total means lower incident frequency did not translate into lower exposure. Carriers and forwarders still face greater loss severity, although the figures gave no incident count, average claim, commodity mix, transport mode or lane breakdown.

What changed in the FMCSA complaint system?

Shortly after renaming its National Consumer Complaint Database the “Complaint Center,” the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration updated the website design. FMCSA also expanded and reorganized the reporting categories.

For carriers and shippers, the practical issue is data organization: a reorganized intake can make complaint types easier to identify and compare. The source gave no complaint volume, processing time or enforcement result, so the update alone does not prove a change in regulatory activity.

What moved in broker-posted spot rates?

FTR Transportation Intelligence reported that the total average broker-posted spot rate “fell 1.8 cents last week” to $3.21 per mile. The blended benchmark declined even as dry-van and refrigerated postings rose; no lane weights or shipment volumes accompanied the figure.

• Dry van: Rates rose 4.4 cents to $2.89 per mile.
• Refrigerated: Rates rose 7 cents to $3.52 per mile, the largest increase among the three equipment groups.
• Flatbed: Rates fell 5.7 cents to $3.25 per mile.

Refrigerated finished 63 cents per mile above dry van and 27 cents above flatbed. Flatbed remained 36 cents above dry van, so the equipment spread stayed material for shippers budgeting by trailer type.

The total rate fell only 1.8 cents, below the 7-cent refrigerated increase and the 4.4-cent dry-van increase. Because these are broker-posted offers rather than carrier-settled prices, forwarders need equipment-specific quotes instead of applying $3.21 to every load.

Shippers needing refrigerated capacity faced the clearest weekly increase, while flatbed buyers saw the only decline. Carriers gained a stronger posted-price signal in dry van and refrigerated, but the falling blended average shows that the broader truck market did not move uniformly higher.

What did lower diesel change?

The Energy Information Administration's weekly data put the national average on-highway diesel price at $6.13 per gallon after a 17-cent decline. AAA's latest reading was $6.10 per gallon, placing the two benchmarks 3 cents apart.

For carriers, a 17-cent weekly reduction lowers the immediate fuel bill per gallon, but $6.10 to $6.13 remains the cost base. Shippers should expect any relief to work through negotiated fuel terms or surcharges rather than a proportional fall in total linehaul rates.

The roundup also noted the continuing Iran war without quantifying its effect on fuel supply. With two weekly benchmarks still above $6, carriers have immediate savings but little room to treat the move as a durable reset, and forwarders still need to build fuel risk into rate discussions.

Going forward, shippers and carriers will watch whether the $3.21 blended benchmark holds as dry and refrigerated postings rise, whether diesel stays below the current $6.10-$6.13 range, and whether follow-up inspections keep out-of-service rates near 15.1% and constrain available truck capacity.