Carriers hauling for Lineage were charging 8 to 10 per cent more by the third quarter, the cold-storage company told analysts on Tuesday. Its own contract increases with customers came in at 5 to 6 per cent.

The difference came out of Lineage's margin. Net operating income at its transportation arm, Global Integrated Solutions, dropped 13.8 per cent to about $56 million.

What it shows about the truck market

Lineage describes itself as the largest temperature-controlled warehouse operator in the world. Its transportation arm took in $352 million in revenue in the quarter, much of it spent on outside carriers.

In the company's earnings release, chief executive Greg Lehmkuhl blamed "sharply higher oil prices, constrained trucking capacity, and tariff uncertainty" for a harder end to the quarter.

Fleets on the spot market

For fleets, the numbers show carriers holding pricing power with one of the biggest freight buyers in refrigerated logistics.

Fleets that run spot freight may be positioned to capitalize. Spot rates move with the market right away. Contract rates wait for renewal, so fleets hauling on contracts signed earlier may not see the increase until those contracts are repriced.

Lineage is doing the same with its own customers. Executives expect transportation margins to recover within a few quarters as customer contracts come up for new pricing. That is a sign higher truck costs are being passed up the chain to shippers.

The pattern matches what TruckNmore reported on November 5. Broker Arrive Logistics said southbound cross-border rates were up 20 per cent from a year ago and the Canadian tractor count was down 3.0 per cent.

The limits

Higher rates are not the same as higher profit. Lineage also paid outside carriers more because of diesel, according to FreightWaves, and fleets are paying that same fuel bill.

Freight demand is also soft. Container traffic from overseas shrank 8 per cent in the quarter. Lehmkuhl described the pressures on the business as temporary.

Lineage's quarter

The release shows $1.361 billion in revenue, 1.2 per cent less than a year earlier, and a net loss of $173 million. The 2026 target for adjusted EBITDA is now $1.25 billion to $1.27 billion, with the middle of the range down $15 million.

Lineage stock lost about 12.5 per cent on Tuesday, the steepest decline in the Russell 1000 that day.