An American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) report released on Tuesday paints a grim picture for trucking profitability amid an ongoing freight recession.
On July 1, 2025, the ATRI released the annual report An Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking, looking at data from 2024 and key indicators from early 2025.
The report found that overall per mile operating costs decreased by 0.4% from 2023 to $2.260 per mile in 2024, thanks to a seven-cent decline in fuel costs.
“However, when lower fuel costs are excluded, marginal costs rose 3.6% to $1.779 per mile – the highest costs ever recorded by ATRI for non-fuel operating costs,” the report said.
Non-fuel operating costs include driver wages, which increased 2.4% in 2024, truck and trailer payments (which rose by 8.3 % to a record-high $0.390 per mile) and driver benefits costs (which rose 4.8% to $0.197 per mile).
“Several line-items set new record highs in 2024: truck and trailer payments, insurance premiums, tires, tolls, driver pay, and driver benefits,” ATRI said.
On a per hour basis, researchers say operational costs for trucking companies in 2024 totaled $90.89 with fuel and $71.57 without fuel.
The ATRI sums up how market conditions negatively impacted carriers in 2024:
“Carrier profitability suffered across all industry sectors under these pressures, as the findings show in stark detail. Average operating margins were below 2 percent in every sector aside from LTL, and the truckload sector had an average operating margin of -2.3 percent.
The report documents numerous operational impacts caused by the ongoing freight recession. For example, truck capacity dropped 2.2 percent as carriers sold trucks, empty miles rose to an average of 16.7 percent, and the number of drivers per truck fell to 0.93 as carriers parked trucks. Another cost-management strategy was reducing non-driver staff by 6.8 percent. At the same time, though, average truck age, average dwell time per stop, and mileage between breakdowns improved – all testaments to industry performance despite economic headwinds.“
“The trucking industry is facing the most challenging freight market in years, with loads down and costs increasing,” said Groendyke Transport, Inc. President and CEO Greg Hodgen. “ATRI’s Operational Costs data and the customized benchmarking report that compares us to similar fleets are more critical than ever as we navigate rising costs and decreasing margins in this adverse environment.”
You can follow this link to access the full ATRI report.
