Operational trucking costs hit a record high last year, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) reported recently in its 2026 Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking benchmarking report.
ATRI says the industry-average cost to operate a truck in 2025 was $2.336 per mile, 3.4% higher than the previous year and the highest per-mile cost in the report’s history. Excluding fuel, ATRI says costs rose by 4.2% to $1.854 per mile.
American Transportation Research Institute
Only two line-items rose at sub-inflationary rates: fuel and, for the second year in a row, driver pay. ATRI adds truck and trailer procurement costs varied by fleet size amid high prices and low freight volumes.
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Small fleets spent less on trucks and trailers in 2025 than in 2024, while truckload fleets with more than 1,000 trucks spent 16.1% more. First-quarter 2026 data show a continuation of most 2025 cost trends.
In releasing its report, ATRI notes the unique position trucking has been in over the past few year.
Faced with rising costs and stagnant rates, ATRI states carriers executed their largest reduction in freight capacity since the start of the freight recession in 2022 — reducing truck counts by 2.4% and leaving another 10 percent of trucks unseated on average. That trend finally reversed in Q2, data from RigDig (owned by Fusable, parent company of TPS), showed last week.
Other key metrics show the impact of this prolonged downturn on operations. ATRI says average truck age and annual mileage increased, deadhead mileage remained elevated, and non-driver staffing levels were cut by 7.8%.
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Despite these austerity efforts, the institute adds carrier profitability remained poor. Operating margins in the truckload and refrigerated sectors improved slightly but were still below 1.0%, while tank carriers averaged 4.0%. Only LTLs and fleets with more than 1,000 trucks had healthy — but flat year-over-year — margins in 2025. Flatbed carriers, however, had an average operating loss of -0.5%.
“Freight rates are finally turning a corner in 2026, but the acceleration of industry-wide costs means that fleets must continue with aggressive cost discipline,” says PGT Trucking COO Chad Marsilio. “ATRI’s Operational Costs and the customized benchmarking reports provide vital intelligence for balancing cost management and performance as we prepare our fleet for the much-needed trucking recovery.”
The full report is available on ATRI’s website.
