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Truck capacity is not the same in May as it is in February. Holidays take working days off the calendar, enforcement weeks keep some drivers parked, harvests and import waves pull trucks toward particular lanes, and storms close roads and ports with a few days’ notice. Most of these swings land on roughly the same weeks every year, which means a shipper can plan around them months ahead.
This calendar puts the 2027 dates in one place, with the November and December 2026 holiday weeks as a lead-in. Each item names the source it comes from and the date that source carries. Where an organization has not yet published its 2027 dates, we give the 2026 dates and say so rather than guess.
The year at a glance
The bars read the sources below on a three-step scale: looser means the sources describe a quieter stretch with more trucks looking for loads; tighter means they describe a surge, a holiday squeeze or capacity pulled away; normal is everything in between. The rows underneath show which events drive each month.
2027 month by month
Each card lists what usually happens that month with its source, the capacity reading, and one planning step. The two 2026 lead-in months come first because the holiday weeks they cover are only weeks away.
November 2026 · lead-in
Tighter- Veterans Day, Wed Nov 11; Thanksgiving, Thu Nov 26 (OPM).
- FedEx Freight’s 2026 schedule: open Nov 11, closed Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday, Nov 26–27.
- Snowbird car shipping south peaks in November (Ship A Car, July 2026).
- Atlantic hurricane season ends Nov 30 (NOAA).
Capacity: Tighter in Thanksgiving week. Before a national holiday, carriers favor loads that get drivers closer to home (FreightWaves, June 2021).
Planning tip: Have must-arrive freight delivered by Tuesday, Nov 24, and ask whether your receiver works the Friday after Thanksgiving.
December 2026 · lead-in
Tighter- Christmas Day, Fri Dec 25; New Year’s Day, Fri Jan 1, 2027 (OPM).
- FedEx Freight’s schedule: modified service Dec 23, closed Dec 24–26, prearranged pickups and deliveries only on Dec 31, closed Jan 1–2.
- Most holiday merchandise has arrived; the rest of the year is last-minute replenishment (NRF, Oct 8, 2026).
Capacity: Normal early, tighter before Christmas: historically a lull in early to mid-December, then volumes and rates rise sharply (FreightWaves, Jan 2026).
Planning tip: Book anything that must land before the holiday for delivery by Friday, Dec 18, and add transit days for retailer receiving delays, as Averitt advises.
January 2027
Looser- New Year’s Day, Fri Jan 1; Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Mon Jan 18 (OPM).
- A brief import bump ahead of Lunar New Year factory shutdowns in Asia (NRF, Jan 2026). NRF forecasts January 2027 at 2.07 million TEU (Oct 2026).
- Florida winter vegetables: USDA reported a slight shortage of trucks in Central and South Florida through January–March 2026.
Capacity: Looser after the first week: holiday volume returns over a week or two and rejection rates ease off their holiday highs (FreightWaves, Jan 2025). Winter storms can tighten things quickly (FreightWaves, Jan 2026).
Planning tip: A quiet month to update routing guides, carrier lists and recurring lanes before spring.
February 2027
Looser- Lunar New Year, Sat Feb 6 (Hong Kong government’s gazetted 2027 holidays). Factories in Asia shut down around it (NRF, Jan 2026).
- Washington’s Birthday, Mon Feb 15 (OPM).
- NRF describes a post-holiday shipping lull each year (Jan 2026); its Oct 2026 forecast puts February 2027 at 1.92 million TEU, the lowest month in that outlook.
Capacity: Looser, most of all for freight out of port-area warehouses, as a general pattern.
Planning tip: If production depends on parts from Asia, confirm supplier ship dates before Feb 6 and plan domestic moves around the gap in arrivals.
March 2027
Normal- Produce season can start from mid-March into April across the Southeast; freight out of Lakeland, Florida typically starts rising in March (DAT, Mar 2024).
- The flatbed market tends to wake up in spring as construction picks up (FreightWaves, Apr 2025).
- Snowbird car shipping north spikes in March and April (Ship A Car).
- The quarter ends Wed Mar 31.
Capacity: Normal, tighter in the last week: an end-of-quarter freight surge, then a dip as the new quarter starts (SONAR, Apr 2026).
Planning tip: Ship quarter-end orders by about Friday, Mar 26 rather than the last two days of the month, and line up April–June flatbed moves early.
April 2027
Normal- Vidalia onions ship from the pack date the Georgia Department of Agriculture sets each spring (April 13 in 2026) into early September (Georgia Farm Bureau, Apr 2026).
- Snowbird car shipping north continues through April (Ship A Car; Sherpa).
- The flatbed market tends to wake up in spring as construction picks up (FreightWaves, Apr 2025).
Capacity: Normal for dry van: SONAR notes April is usually a weak month for freight. Busier for flatbed and for outbound Florida and Georgia lanes.
Planning tip: Give flatbed and hotshot carriers a pickup window of a few days rather than a single date.
May 2027
Tighter- International Roadcheck, CVSA’s three-day inspection blitz: May 12–14 in 2026 (J. J. Keller, Jan 2026). 2027 dates not yet announced; CVSA announces them in advance.
- Freight out of Lakeland, Florida typically peaks in May (DAT). Florida shipped 780,000 tons of produce by truck in April–June 2025 (USDA).
- Memorial Day, Mon May 31 (OPM).
Capacity: Tighter. FreightWaves (May 2026) reports that Roadcheck’s effect on spot rates has ranged from a non-event to sharp spikes, and that some drivers avoid inspection areas or take the week off; because Memorial Day follows about two weeks later, its own effect is hard to isolate.
Planning tip: When CVSA posts the 2027 Roadcheck dates, move flexible pickups out of that week, and book Memorial Day week freight early.
June 2027
Tighter- Atlantic hurricane season opens June 1 (NOAA).
- Juneteenth (Sat Jun 19) is observed Fri Jun 18 (OPM).
- Watermelons, dry onions, sweet corn, sweet potatoes and blueberries led April–June 2025 produce shipments from Georgia and the Carolinas (USDA).
- The quarter ends Wed Jun 30; Independence Day is observed the following Monday.
Capacity: Tighter late in the month: the quarter-end surge (SONAR) runs into the week before July 4, when carriers favor loads that get drivers home (FreightWaves, June 2021).
Planning tip: Ship quarter-end and pre-holiday freight by about Friday, Jun 25.
July 2027
Normal- Independence Day (Sun Jul 4) is observed Mon Jul 5 (OPM).
- Operation Safe Driver Week, CVSA’s focus on unsafe driving: July 12–18 in 2026 (FreightWaves, June 2026). 2027 dates not yet announced.
- Import peak: in 2026 the peak started early and stretched through summer into early fall (NRF, Oct 2026).
Capacity: Tighter around the holiday weekend, then normal.
Planning tip: Put time-critical pickups on Tue Jun 29–Thu Jul 1 or from Tue Jul 6, not on the holiday weekend’s Friday or Monday.
August 2027
Normal- Import peak: NRF called August 2026 likely the busiest month of the year for imports (Oct 2026).
- Brake Safety Week: August 23–29 in 2026, focused on brake drums and rotors (Kentucky State Police, Aug 2026). 2027 dates not yet announced.
- Most hurricane activity falls between mid-August and mid-October (NOAA).
Capacity: Normal overall; tighter near import ports and on coasts under a storm threat.
Planning tip: For port-area freight, request DC appointments early; from mid-August keep a spare day in Gulf and Atlantic coast delivery plans.
September 2027
Tighter- Labor Day, Mon Sep 6 (OPM).
- Hurricane season peaks around Sep 10 (NOAA). Before Hurricane Milton in October 2024, shippers rushed freight in and out of Lakeland, Florida and carriers turned down more loads headed there (FreightWaves).
- The quarter ends Thu Sep 30.
Capacity: Tighter: Labor Day week, the storm peak and the quarter-end surge overlap.
Planning tip: For Florida, Georgia and Carolina deliveries, agree on an alternate delivery date and a receiver contact in advance.
October 2027
Normal- Columbus Day, Mon Oct 11 (OPM). Federal offices close, but not every freight company does: FedEx Freight was open on Columbus Day 2026, as on MLK Day, Washington’s Birthday and Veterans Day.
- Snowbird car shipping south builds through October (Ship A Car); Sherpa lists October–November as snowbird months.
- Hurricane activity tapers after mid-October; the season runs to Nov 30 (NOAA).
Capacity: Normal, with imports slowing after the peak (NRF, Oct 2026).
Planning tip: Ask your retail receivers now for their Thanksgiving-to-New Year receiving calendar.
November 2027
Tighter- Veterans Day, Thu Nov 11; Thanksgiving, Thu Nov 25 (OPM).
- Carriers often close Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday: FedEx Freight did on Nov 26–27, 2026, and Averitt on Nov 27–28, 2025.
- Snowbird car shipping south peaks in November (Ship A Car).
- Hurricane season ends Nov 30 (NOAA).
Capacity: Tighter in Thanksgiving week, as before any national holiday (FreightWaves, June 2021).
Planning tip: Have must-arrive freight delivered by Tuesday, Nov 23.
December 2027
Tighter- Christmas Day (Sat Dec 25) is observed Fri Dec 24; New Year’s Day 2028 (Sat Jan 1) is observed Fri Dec 31, 2027 (OPM).
- Historically a lull in early to mid-December, then volumes and rates rise sharply before Christmas (FreightWaves, Jan 2026).
- The quarter and the year end Fri Dec 31.
Capacity: Normal early, tighter from mid-month to year-end.
Planning tip: Aim retail deliveries at the week of Dec 13; the worked example below shows the math.
The dates behind the calendar
2027 federal holidays
These are the observed dates the U.S. Office of Personnel Management lists for 2027. Under 5 U.S.C. 6103(b), a holiday that falls on a Saturday is observed the Friday before; OPM applies the Monday after for a Sunday holiday. Federal offices close, so deliveries to federal sites need to avoid these days (see government and defense freight). Private carriers and receivers set their own schedules, and they differ: the notes use FedEx Freight’s posted 2026 schedule and Averitt’s 2025 schedule as examples, because neither had posted 2027 dates when we checked.
| Holiday | Observed in 2027 | Freight note |
|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | Fri, Jan 1 | FedEx Freight lists Jan 1–2, 2027 as closed; Averitt closed Jan 1, 2026. |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Mon, Jan 18 | Open at FedEx Freight in 2026. |
| Washington’s Birthday | Mon, Feb 15 | Open at FedEx Freight in 2026. |
| Memorial Day | Mon, May 31 | Closed at FedEx Freight in 2026 and Averitt in 2025. |
| Juneteenth | Fri, Jun 18 (Jun 19 is a Saturday) | FedEx Freight ran modified service on Juneteenth 2026. |
| Independence Day | Mon, Jul 5 (Jul 4 is a Sunday) | FedEx Freight closed Jul 3–4, 2026 (the observed Friday and the holiday); Averitt closed Jul 4, 2025. |
| Labor Day | Mon, Sep 6 | Closed at FedEx Freight in 2026 and Averitt in 2025. |
| Columbus Day | Mon, Oct 11 | Open at FedEx Freight in 2026. |
| Veterans Day | Thu, Nov 11 | Open at FedEx Freight in 2026. |
| Thanksgiving Day | Thu, Nov 25 | FedEx Freight closed Thursday and Friday in 2026, as did Averitt in 2025. |
| Christmas Day | Fri, Dec 24 (Dec 25 is a Saturday) | FedEx Freight closed Dec 24–26, 2026; Averitt Dec 24–25, 2025. |
| New Year’s Day 2028 | Fri, Dec 31, 2027 (Jan 1, 2028 is a Saturday) | Listed in OPM’s 2028 table. |
CVSA enforcement weeks
These three Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance campaigns put extra inspectors on the road across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. None had 2027 dates when we checked on October 20, 2026, so here are the 2026 dates; the 2027 events typically fall in the same months, and CVSA announces the dates in advance.
- International Roadcheck: May 12–14, 2026 (J. J. Keller, Jan 29, 2026). This is the week the sources tie to capacity. FreightWaves’ Zach Strickland (May 9, 2026) writes that Roadcheck’s impact has ranged from a non-event (2020) to sharp spot-rate spikes, that some drivers avoid affected areas or take the week off, which temporarily reduces capacity, and that recent rises in tender rejections owe more to elevated spot rates and load availability than to lost capacity. Because Roadcheck falls close to Memorial Day, he writes, its standalone effect is hard to separate from the holiday’s.
- Operation Safe Driver Week: July 12–18, 2026, focused on reckless, careless or dangerous driving; CVSA announced the dates on April 30 (FreightWaves, June 30, 2026).
- Brake Safety Week: August 23–29, 2026, with inspectors concentrating on brake drums and rotors (Kentucky State Police, Aug 24, 2026).
The sources we read tie a capacity swing to Roadcheck only; we found nothing dated that does the same for the other two weeks.
Hurricane season
NOAA’s National Hurricane Center puts the Atlantic season at June 1 to November 30, with the climatological peak on September 10 and most activity between mid-August and mid-October. Storms move freight before they arrive: ahead of Hurricane Milton, FreightWaves’ Tony Mulvey (Oct 9, 2024) reported inbound volume into the Lakeland, Florida market at its highest in over a year as shippers positioned goods, a last push to move freight out, and carriers rejecting a growing share of loads into the area. For the lanes we focus on, see Southeast dry van and the Southeast corridors.
Produce in Florida and the Southeast
Produce rides in temperature-controlled trailers, which are outside the freight Averstone Logistics plans to cover (no temperature-controlled freight), but it still matters to dry freight. DAT’s Chris Eudy (Mar 12, 2024) writes that produce season can start anywhere from mid-March to April across the Southeast, that freight out of Lakeland typically rises from March to a May peak, and that because those trailers sometimes carry dry loads when they are not hauling produce, the season typically tightens dry van capacity out of Florida too.
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service tracks it in its Agricultural Refrigerated Truck Quarterly. Florida shipped 780,000 tons of produce by truck in April–June 2025, led by watermelons, tomatoes, sweet corn and potatoes, with the Central and South Florida district reporting slight truck shortages all quarter (Q2 2025 issue, published Feb 2026). In January–March 2026 Florida shipped 447,000 tons, led by tomatoes, strawberries and cabbage, again with a slight shortage of trucks all quarter (Q1 2026 issue, published May 2026). The same Q2 2025 issue puts Georgia and the Carolinas at 465,000 tons for April–June, led by watermelons, dry onions, sweet corn, sweet potatoes and blueberries. Georgia’s Vidalia onions start shipping on a pack date the state Department of Agriculture sets each spring (April 13 in 2026) and sell into early September (Georgia Farm Bureau, Apr 8, 2026).
Imports, Lunar New Year and the retail holiday build
Ocean imports become truckloads once they clear the port, so the National Retail Federation’s Global Port Tracker is a useful early signal for port-area dry van freight. In its October 8, 2026 release, NRF said the 2026 peak season started early and stretched through the summer into early fall, that August was likely the year’s busiest month, and that most holiday merchandise had arrived, leaving last-minute replenishment for the rest of the year. It forecasts 2.07 million TEU for January 2027 and 1.92 million for February 2027.
The February dip is Lunar New Year. The Hong Kong government’s gazetted 2027 holidays put Lunar New Year’s Day on Saturday, February 6, 2027. In its January 9, 2026 release, NRF’s Jonathan Gold described a brief bump in imports ahead of the factory shutdowns in Asia and the post-holiday shipping lull that comes each year.
Holiday weeks, shutdowns and the December pattern
Around national holidays, FreightWaves (June 27, 2021) describes carriers choosing loads that bring drivers closer to home and many drivers spending the holiday off the road. After the year-end holidays, volume comes back over a week or two and rejection rates ease (FreightWaves, Jan 6, 2025). December has its own shape: historically a lull in early to mid-December, then volumes and rates rise sharply in the weeks before Christmas. In 2025 the lull never came, and winter weather after Thanksgiving kept the market tight through year-end (FreightWaves, Jan 3, 2026).
Docks close too. FedEx Freight’s posted schedule lists it closed November 26–27, December 24–26, 2026 and January 1–2, 2027, with modified service on December 23 and only prearranged pickups and deliveries on December 31. Averitt closed Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday and Christmas Eve and Day in 2025 and advises shippers to add transit days for holidays and retailer receiving delays. Retail DCs publish their own receiving calendars; our retail DC delivery guide covers appointments and refusals.
Quarter-end surges
SONAR’s Pricing Power Index (Mike Baudendistel, Apr 13, 2026) describes a decline in tender rejections as typical at the start of a quarter, following an end-of-quarter freight surge, and calls April usually a weak month for freight. The calendar marks the last week of March, June, September and December. We did not find a dated source for a month-end pattern, so other month-ends are not marked.
Spring construction: flatbed and hotshot
FreightWaves’ Zach Strickland (Apr 5, 2025) writes that the flatbed market tends to wake up in spring as construction picks up with warmer weather, and that the first spike in demand usually hits the spot market first, pulling capacity away from contract freight. Building materials, steel and equipment moving to job sites compete for the same open decks; see flatbed and step-deck and hotshot freight.
Snowbird car shipping
Snowbird car shipping comes in two waves, south in the fall and north in the spring. Ship A Car (updated July 28, 2026) says southbound demand builds through October and peaks in November, and northbound demand spikes in March and April; it suggests late September southbound or early May northbound to avoid the peaks, and booking three to four weeks ahead when dates are fixed. Sherpa Auto Transport (July 2026) lists October–November and March–April as snowbird months on routes to and from Florida and Arizona. Our car shipping cost guide has published price ranges by distance.
Worked example: a mid-December retail DC delivery
Worked example (illustrative)
A housewares vendor has a full truckload for a retail distribution center 300 road miles away. The purchase order’s must-arrive-by date (MABD) is Friday, December 17, 2027. The retailer’s routing guide wants appointment requests at least five business days ahead, and the vendor wants two business days of slack before the MABD. The distance, the five-day rule and the slack are illustrative; the calendar facts are OPM’s.
| Step | Calendar math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Check the holidays | Christmas Day is Saturday, Dec 25, so it is observed Friday, Dec 24; New Year’s Day 2028 is Saturday, Jan 1, so it is observed Friday, Dec 31, 2027 (OPM; 5 U.S.C. 6103(b)) | Two Fridays off |
| 2. Count the working days | December 2027 runs Wed Dec 1 to Fri Dec 31: 23 weekdays, minus the 2 observed holidays | 21 working days |
| 3. What is left after the MABD | Mon Dec 20–Thu Dec 23 (4) + Mon Dec 27–Thu Dec 30 (4) | 8 working days, split by the Christmas closure |
| 4. Target appointment | MABD Fri Dec 17 minus 2 business days of slack | Wed Dec 15, morning slot |
| 5. Transit check | 300 mi ÷ 50 mph (assumed average) = 6 hours of driving, inside the 11-hour limit in 49 CFR 395.3 | Pick up Tue Dec 14 |
| 6. Appointment request deadline | 5 business days before Wed Dec 15: Tue 14 (1), Mon 13 (2), Fri 10 (3), Thu 9 (4), Wed 8 (5) | Request by Wed Dec 8 |
| 7. Freight ready | The working day before pickup: picked, wrapped, labeled, BOL printed | Mon Dec 13 |
| 8. Fallback | If the Dec 15 slot slips, Thu Dec 16 and Fri Dec 17 still meet the MABD | 2 fallback days |
Missing all three days pushes the delivery into December 20–23, the stretch before Christmas when FreightWaves says volumes and rates historically rise sharply, with Friday, December 24 an observed holiday (FedEx Freight, for one, closed on December 24 in 2026). The safer move is the one in step 6: ask for the appointment on December 8, and if the product will not be ready by December 13, ask to move the MABD then, not on December 16.
Shipping Seasons Calendar 2027
One printable page: the holidays, enforcement weeks and seasonal crunches that move truck capacity, month by month.
Sources
Every source below was opened on October 20, 2026. Dates in parentheses are the dates each source carries. DAT is linked for direction only; we do not republish its figures.
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal Holidays (2026, 2027 and 2028 tables) (opened Oct 20, 2026)
- 5 U.S.C. 6103, Holidays (Cornell LII)
- NOAA National Hurricane Center, Tropical Cyclone Climatology (opened Oct 20, 2026)
- J. J. Keller Compliance Network, New dates for Roadcheck 2026 (Jan 29, 2026)
- FreightWaves (Zach Strickland), What Roadcheck week means for the freight market (May 9, 2026)
- FreightWaves (Adam Wingfield), Operation Safe Driver Week hits July 12 (June 30, 2026)
- Kentucky State Police, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement highlights Brake Safety Week (Aug 24, 2026)
- National Retail Federation, Import Cargo’s Extended Peak Season Wrapping Up (Global Port Tracker) (Oct 8, 2026)
- National Retail Federation, Import Cargo Volume Expected to Remain Down Year-Over-Year Until Spring (Jan 9, 2026)
- GovHK, General holidays for 2027 (revised May 2026)
- USDA AMS, Agricultural Refrigerated Truck Quarterly, Quarter 1 2026 (published May 2026)
- USDA AMS, Agricultural Refrigerated Truck Quarterly, Quarter 2 2025 (published Feb 2026)
- DAT (Chris Eudy), The key questions of produce season: when, how and how much (Mar 12, 2024)
- Georgia Farm Bureau, April 13 set as official Vidalia onion pack date (Apr 8, 2026)
- FreightWaves (Zach Strickland), Flatbed market benefits from tariff uncertainty (Apr 5, 2025)
- SONAR Pricing Power Index (Mike Baudendistel), Rejection rates take a breather to start quarter (Apr 13, 2026)
- FreightWaves, Seasonality pushing rejections and rates higher ahead of the Fourth (June 27, 2021)
- FreightWaves (Tony Mulvey), Capacity returns to the road following the holidays (Jan 6, 2025)
- FreightWaves (John Paul Hampstead), 2025’s peak retail season the best for trucking in years (Jan 3, 2026)
- FreightWaves (Tony Mulvey), Hurricane Milton already impacting Florida freight markets (Oct 9, 2024)
- FedEx Freight, Holiday shipping schedule (2026 and early 2027 dates) (undated page, opened Oct 20, 2026)
- Averitt, Shipper Adjusted Holiday Hours (2025 schedule) (opened Oct 20, 2026)
- Ship A Car, Inc., Shipping a Car from Boston to Florida (updated July 28, 2026)
- Sherpa Auto Transport, Car Shipping Cost Calculator (updated July 2026)
- 49 CFR 395.3, Maximum driving time for property-carrying vehicles (Cornell LII)
Where this applies
Hotshot and flatbed freight nationwide (lower 48). Dry van truckload across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee. USA only — no cross-border, no drayage, no rail, no temperature-controlled freight. Planning 2027 freight around these weeks? Tell us about your freight with the lane, the dates and what you are shipping. We answer every message within 30 minutes, Mon–Fri 8am–5pm ET, and within 6–12 hours at other times.