Spot market freight availability is increasing while rates have generally headed higher.

New figures from the freight matching service provider DAT TransCore show spot market loads increased 11% for the seven days ending May 25 from the week before.

Load-to-truck amounts also improved, increasing 9% for vans, but even more for reefers and flatbeds, adding 14% and 13%, respectively.

Rates for vans had the biggest increase, adding 2.3% from the previous week for an average of $1.82 per mile. Those for reefers increased 1.2% to $2.14 per mile while flatbed rates fell 0.6% to 2.14 per mile.

Writing for the company’s Freight Talk Blog, analyst Mark Montague points out the increase in rates for vans is being led by a 19 cent-per-mile increase in rates between Houston and Oklahoma City, possibly due to tornado relief efforts.

He also points out that “rates are rockin' and reefers are rollin'” in California, especially in the central part of the state’s produce markets, while demand for flatbeds and rates paid for them are generally best east of the Mississippi River.