The News
Landstar and CH Robinson, two of the largest US truckload brokers, charged 25% to 32% more per truckload in Q3 on about 3% more freight. At RXO, half of all truckloads moved at spot prices, and claims costs rose at both Landstar and CH Robinson.
RXO priced 51% of its truckloads on the spot market, up from 29% a year earlier.
The details
RXO moved more than half of its truckloads on spot. Its truckload volume rose 3%, and its spot share has climbed every quarter this year, from 28% at the end of 2025.
The spot share was 33% in Q1, 42% in Q2, and 51% in Q3.
Gross profit per load rose 31% from Q2, which RXO credits to the spot mix. Brokerage gross margin was 12.6%, down from 13.5% a year earlier.
RXO calls itself “the broker of choice for spot activity, special projects and mini-bids.” It held no earnings call because CH Robinson is buying it for $5.8 billion, a deal expected to close in the first half of 2027.
CH Robinson kept 70% of its truckloads on contract, the same mix as a year earlier, and repriced much of that contract book. Its customers’ contracted carriers are also turning down more loads.
Its truckload mix was 70% contract and 30% transactional, against 65% and 35% in the first half of 2025.
In its Managed Solutions business, a load went to an average of 1.5 carriers in the routing guide before one accepted it, up from 1.2.
Truckload volume rose 3.5%. CEO Dave Bozeman credited “successfully repricing a large portion of our contractual truckload portfolio.” Carriers such as Knight-Swift are opening 2027 bids asking for double-digit increases.
Landstar hauls with 45% fewer brokerage carriers than at its 2022 peak. It had 39,460 carriers that moved at least one Landstar load in the 180 days before Q3 ended, down from 71,207 in Q3 2022. The count has edged up since its low at the end of 2025.
Approved brokerage carriers, active or not, totaled 67,915, against 101,429 in Q3 2022.
Van revenue per load rose 23% on 6% more loads. Flatbed revenue per load rose 29% on 4% more loads.
Landstar added a net 165 owner-operator trucks in Q3, “the strongest quarterly improvement since the third quarter of 2021,” CEO Frank Lonegro said.
Landstar’s claims bill rose 67% to $55.3 million. About $21 million of that came from reserve increases and two accident settlements. CH Robinson’s North American truckload and LTL unit lifted operating expenses 15.7%, mainly on higher claims and incentive pay.
Landstar booked $13.0 million in adverse actuarial adjustments and $8.0 million tied to settling a 2024 brokered truck accident claim and a 2025 accident involving an owner-operator.
The 10-Q lists truck brokerage claims and “cargo loss experience as a result of fraud and theft in the supply chain” among the causes. Landstar’s premiums for excess trucking liability coverage, above $10 million, are up about 390% since the policy year that ended in April 2020.
“We are not immune to the challenges of the insurance and claims inflation prevalent in our industry,” Lonegro said.
My notes
RXO’s spot-heavy book is heading to the broker that runs on contracts. RXO priced half its loads on spot in Q3. CH Robinson kept 70% on contract and repriced much of it. When the deal closes, RXO’s shippers join a broker whose mix has held at 70% contract for five straight quarters.
More loads are falling out of routing guides. At CH Robinson, a contracted load now goes to one and a half carriers on average before someone takes it. A load every carrier on the guide turns down ends up on spot, and spot is the half of RXO’s business that grew.
Brokers are using fewer carriers and still paying more in claims. Landstar cut its active carrier list by 45% from 2022, and its 10-K says fraud and cargo theft have “significantly increased.” Its claims bill still rose by two thirds in a year. That cost sits inside every rate a broker quotes.
What’s next
CH Robinson has filed for antitrust review of the RXO deal in the US, Canada and Mexico and plans to file the shareholder proxy in Q4. The companies expect to close in the first half of 2027.
Photo: Xnatedawgx / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
