Market Rates/For shippers

Know what Mexico and Canada freight should cost.

Benchmark what you pay on Mexico and Canada lanes against what carriers are actually bidding, refreshed every week.

The Cargado Market Rates screen for shippers showing Monterrey, Nuevo Leon to Chattanooga, Tennessee by dry van via Laredo, with illustrative low, mid and high rates of $3,950, $4,125 and $4,400, a Strong Confidence label, a trailing 12-week rate history and recent rate lookups.

What rates you can see

Freight corridor map of North America. The lanes Cargado prices are drawn brightest: routes throughout Mexico, the crossings into and out of the United States, and the corridors along the Canadian border. Interior United States routes are dimmed because Cargado does not price them.
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Cross-border Mexico

Both directions across the U.S. and Mexico border.

Domestic Mexico

Moves between points inside Mexico.

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Cross-border Canada

Both directions across the U.S. and Canada border.

Low, mid, high
the middle half of what carriers bid on that lane, with the median in the center
Your currency
dollars, pesos or Canadian dollars, whichever you price in
Weekly
rate refreshes from the live marketplace

How shippers get Cargado rates

1

Direct with Cargado

Subscribe directly and the benchmarks live in your workflow, in-platform or over the Market Rates API. The most direct way to put real market data behind every rate conversation.

2

Through partner platforms

Already run procurement in one of the platforms we partner with? Add a Cargado subscription and the same benchmarks appear alongside your carrier bids.

3

Read your market

See how your lanes sit against the wider market, notice where conditions have shifted, and go into every rate conversation with context instead of guesswork.

Methodology

How Cargado builds a rate band

Every rate on Cargado is a band, not a rate card: a low, a mid and a high for one lane, one trailer type and the latest week. Here is where the numbers come from and how to read them.

The Cargado rate result for one lane: the Rate range card with Low, Mid and High, a confidence label, and the trailing 12-week history chart. Amounts are not shown.

Where the numbers come from

Carrier bids on real postings

Brokers and forwarders post real loads and lanes in Cargado's marketplace. Vetted Mexico and Canada carriers bid on them. Those bids are the data. Not a survey, not a scraped load board, not invoices collected after the fact.

The last 12 weeks, refreshed every week

Each band is built from bids over the trailing 12 weeks and rebuilt every week, so it describes the market you are buying in now, not the one from last quarter.

Priced from the lane, or estimated from the markets around it

Every lookup is priced by trailer category between the market your origin sits in and the market your destination sits in. When a market has too few recent bids on its own, Cargado uses a wider area around it and labels the result "extended market". The confidence label tells you which one you are looking at.

How to read the band

Low, mid and high

The middle half of recent carrier bids sits between low and high. Mid is the center of that range. Committed volume with real lead time tends to land toward the low end. Short notice and tight pickup windows land toward the high end.

One total per load, fuel included, in your currency

The band is a total per load, not per mile, and it includes fuel. Add the fuel surcharge to any linehaul quote before you compare. Price it in U.S. dollars, pesos or Canadian dollars; the app suggests one for the lane.

The confidence label

Strong, Medium or Lower Confidence comes from the lane's margin of error: how far the true middle could sit from the one Cargado observed, based on how many bids stand behind the lane and how much they vary. A thin lane gets a lower label, not a made-up number. A lane with too few recent bids shows no rate at all.

Where your quote sits

Under

Below the band

A quote under the low end sits below what carriers have been bidding on that lane. Worth understanding why before you plan around it, because a rate well under the market usually reflects something specific about that load rather than the lane itself.

In line

Inside the band

In line with the market. Expect the low end for committed volume with lead time, and the high end for short notice.

Over

Above the band

A quote above the high end sits above the range carriers have been bidding on that lane. Usually there is a reason worth knowing: lead time, equipment, seasonality, or a lane that runs empty in one direction. Read it with the confidence label.

The band is a guide built from real recent bidding, not a guarantee of what any one carrier will accept.

Talk to usHow to read a market rate →

Other ways to get these rates

Pull the same bands into the tools you already price in, so nobody logs into one more system to see what a lane is going for.

Excel add-in

Price a bid file in Excel

Pull low, mid and high bands straight into your bid sheet and drag them down a lane list. No copying between tabs, no re-keying.

API

Pull rates into your own system

Call the Market Rates API from your TMS, your pricing engine or your own tools and get the same bands back, refreshed weekly.

Partnerships

Already in a partner platform

Some procurement platforms carry Cargado benchmarks natively, so the bands show up next to your carrier pricing. GoodShip is live today, with more to be announced soon.

See all partnerships →

Want your freight benchmarked?

Put real market context behind every rate conversation, spot and contract, built from carrier bidding across Mexico and Canada.

Talk to usSee how Market Rates works →

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Common questions

What shippers ask about Cargado rate benchmarks

Have a question we didn't cover?

Our team is happy to talk through how the benchmarks fit your freight

Contact Us
What lanes and freight does the data cover?
Cargado is built for Mexico and Canada freight. U.S. and Mexico in both directions is where the bidding is deepest, on lanes like Laredo–Monterrey and Guadalajara–Laredo, alongside Mexico–Canada, U.S.–Canada, and domestic Mexico. There is rate data for U.S. freight moving to and from border cities like Laredo and El Paso, while U.S. domestic freight away from the border stays out of scope by design, and intra-Canada moves are not supported. Coverage spans full truckload, partials and power-only across dry van, reefer and open deck, though depth varies by equipment and lane, so check the confidence score on the combination you care about.
Where do Cargado's rates come from?
From carrier bids on real postings in Cargado's marketplace. Brokers and forwarders post loads and lanes, vetted Mexico and Canada carriers bid on them, and those bids become the band. Not a survey, not a scraped load board.
Do the benchmarks cover spot or contract freight?
Both. Every band is built from carrier bidding over a trailing 12-week window, refreshed weekly, so it reads as the current market rather than a rate anyone has committed to hold three or six months out. Use it as the reference point on both sides of your freight. Compare a contract proposal against the band and see where it lands. On spot, expect tighter pickup windows, shorter lead time, lower volume, or a rising market to push you toward the upper end. Check the lane's confidence score before you lean hard on a single number, and rebenchmark as the market moves.
Can shippers join the Cargado marketplace directly?
No. The marketplace is for logistics companies and carriers that fit our network: brokers, 3PLs, and freight forwarders on one side, and vetted trucking companies on the other. Shippers use Cargado for the rate data instead. Subscribe directly for benchmarking, or reach the same benchmarks through partner platforms such as GoodShip. Talk to us and we'll point you to the right path.
How does pricing work?

Cargado subscriptions are value-based and scale with usage — from teams doing occasional rate lookups to enterprise plans with unlimited access — and every plan includes unlimited users. Talk to us to find the right fit for how your team buys freight.

How often do the rates update?
Every week. Each band covers the trailing 12 weeks of bidding and is rebuilt weekly, so it reads as the current market, not a rate anyone has committed to hold for months.
What do low, mid and high mean?
The middle half of recent carrier bids on that lane sits between low and high, and mid is the center of that range. Committed volume with lead time tends toward the low end; short notice tends toward the high end.
What does "extended market" or "not enough data" mean?
"Extended market" means one end of the lane had too few recent bids at its own market, so Cargado priced from a wider area around it and says so. "Not enough data" means no week in the window had enough bids to publish a band, so you see no rate instead of a guess.
Does the band include fuel, and in which currency?
Yes, the low, mid and high include fuel, and they are totals per load rather than per mile. You can price a lane in U.S. dollars, pesos or Canadian dollars; the app suggests one.
Is the band a guaranteed rate?
No. It is a guide built from real recent bidding, with a confidence label that tells you how much bidding stands behind it. It is not a rate any one carrier has agreed to.