The Load Letter — May 8, 2026

Shipper spending jumped 12.9% in Q1 with volumes essentially flat — that's your market context for everything happening right now, and it's your ammunition in every rate conversation you're having today. This morning's briefing covers Miami reefer lanes hitting maximum capacity with Mother's Day flowers, watermelon season, and RoadCheck all colliding at once, why dry van brokers need to be locking carriers down before Blitz Week hits rather than scrambling on Monday, and what Forward Air's 40% stock drop means for shippers with expedited LTL exposure — and where that freight goes next. We also get into Brent crude crossing $100 with Hormuz still closed, a trade court ruling on Trump's global tariff that could trigger another import pull-forward wave, and flatbed tonnage data that puts the freight recession firmly in the rearview. A lot moving at once — here's how to get ahead of it going into the weekend.