Intermodal Spot Rate Pricing Trendline Analysis

Weekly discussion and analysis: Trends in the intermodal spot rate market

Intermodal Mileage Spot Rate per Mile (including fuel)-3

For the week of August 18, 2025, domestic intermodal spot rate index:

Down 0.5% to prior week.
Down 0.4% to prior year.

Intermodal Mileage Spot Rate per Mile (excluding fuel)-3

Year-to-Date Intermodal Volume by Region and Railroad vs. 2024

Year-over-year numbers dropped in both the North America and the US markets agin this week.

Now that the big tariff surge is all but past, what happens beyond continues to remain uncertain.

North American Intermodal: 3.4%

United States: 4.4%

Railroad

BNSF: 4.6%
CN: 2.5%
CPKC: 9.5%
CSX: 2.7%
GMXT: -1.9%
NS: 1.5%
UP: 6.9%

Comparison of Truckload to Intermodal Spot Rate

National Truckload Spot Rate (as reported by the DAT Trendline Report):

Down 1.5% to prior week.
Flat to prior year.

Domestic 53' Intermodal Spot Rate:

Down 0.5% to prior week.
Down 0.4% to prior year.

The rise in the Intermodal Spot Rate Index peaked in weeks 29 and 30, followed by a 3.9% pullback.

When adjusting for estimated fuel costs, intermodal rates are now at their lowest level since week 31 of last year.

Southern California has been the only market holding firm on price. Once that market softens, which is likely as tariff-driven inventory purchases wind down, we expect the intermodal spot rate market to slide back to levels not seen since 2017.

For a full review of the 2025 US Intermodal Savings Against Truckload we point you to a tremendous piece of research the Journal of Commerce publishes quarterly.

Diesel Fuel Update

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported an average diesel fuel price of $3.713 per gallon this week, which is down $0.041 or 1.1% from the prior week.

The diesel price per gallon is up $0.025 or 0.7% from the same period last year.

The full spreadsheet of the historical weekly price moves of diesel full can be found at https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel.