Roper cites freight rejection spike

Roper Technologies used its first-quarter earnings call on April 23 to say DAT is seeing a rise in freight tender rejection rates as truckload capacity tightens. (seekingalpha.com) (ropertech.com) Roper reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of about $2.1 billion and said its Application Software segment, which includes DAT, grew 16% year over year. (seekingalpha.com) (ropertech.com) On the call, chief executive Neil Hunn said DAT was tracking higher rejection rates, meaning carriers were declining more contracted tenders and becoming more selective about which freight they accept. (seekingalpha.com) In trucking, a tender rejection rate is the share of contracted loads that carriers refuse after a shipper or broker offers them. When that number rises, more freight usually spills into the spot market. (freightwaves.com) That shift changes pricing fast. DAT says its market tools show spot and contract rates lane by lane, and its Trendlines report ties those moves to load posts, truck posts and load-to-truck ratios. (dat.com 1) (dat.com 2) DAT’s latest public Trendlines snapshot, for the week of April 13 to April 19, showed van spot rates up 0.5% month over month and 4.5% year over year. Reefer spot rates were up 5.2% from a year earlier, and flatbed spot rates were up 4.7%. (dat.com) The same DAT report showed van spot rates rising from $2.58 a mile in January to $3.45 in April, while flatbed rates climbed from $2.81 to $3.13. DAT says those national averages include fuel surcharges. (dat.com) DAT also said March spot load posts were up 68.4% from a year earlier, while spot truck posts were down 10.1%. That left van load-to-truck ratios up 89.5%, flatbed up 81.6% and reefer up 145.7%. (dat.com) For brokers and shippers, higher rejection rates usually mean contract coverage is weakening on the hardest lanes. DAT markets its network and rate products around that problem, with tools for carrier sourcing, lane monitoring and procurement analysis. (dat.com 1) (dat.com 2) Roper’s message was that the freight cycle is no longer just a broker complaint or a carrier talking point. Its own DAT business is now citing rejection rates as evidence that capacity is tightening and pricing pressure is returning. (seekingalpha.com)