Preparing for Freight Volatility With Chris Caplice From MIT and DAT Freight & Analytics - Unboxing Logistics Ep. 87

About this episode

Lori interviews Chris Caplice about the future of freight in 2026, focusing on market volatility and pricing strategies.

In this Unboxing Logistics episode, Lori sits down with Chris Caplice, executive director at MIT Center for Transportation Logistics and chief scientist at DAT Freight and Analytics, to discuss the state of freight in 2026. The state of freight shipping in 2026 Chris begins by laying out the two big forces shaping the freight market—supply and demand—and noting, “Because supply and demand are constantly shifting in this very volatile market, you're going to see prices going up and prices going down on a regular-ish basis.” He explains that while demand is holding fairly steady, the same can’t be said for supply. “A lot of the regulations that have come recently … [are ] increasing the cost of being a carrier. … It's increasing the barrier of entry, so it's constricting the supply of carriers.” The result? “We are going to see a tightening of the market throughout 2026.” Spot vs. contract pricing According to Chris, one of the biggest mistakes shippers make is using contract rates for every lane. Simply put, “It just doesn't make sense for certain lanes that are sporadic, low volume, things like that.” He warns that often, financial leaders prefer the perceived security of…

People in this episode

Host: Lori

Guest: Chris Caplice

Topics covered

• freight volatility
• supply and demand
• contract pricing
• market trends
• logistics management

Keywords

• freight
• supply chain
• contract rates
• market trends
• logistics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: MIT Center for Transportation Logistics, DAT Freight and Analytics

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