Cuts were made but still costs rise

An effort to cut

Carriers across the nation reduced truck counts by 2.4 percent and left 10 percent of trucks unseated to help cut operating costs during and after the freight recession in 2022, according to the report. Efforts to reduce costs also came in the form of reduced non-driver staff levels (cut by 7.8 percent) and a reliance on older trucks with higher annual mileage.

Even with these attempts to relieve costs, carrier profits were still low, with ATRI reporting that operating margins in the truckload and refrigerated sectors remained below 1.0 percent, tank carriers were averaging 4.0 percent, and large fleets with 1,000+ trucks maintained flat margins year over year.

Rising costs despite the cuts

ATRI reported that costs rose in all major line-items, most notably:

• Tolls (up 13.2 percent)
• Repair and maintenance (up 8.6 percent)
• Driver benefits (up 6.6 percent)
• Tires (up 6.4 percent)

The report also notes that fuel and driver pay both rose at sub-inflationary rates, and that first quarter 2026 data followed most of the same 2025 cost trends.

Final thoughts

The ultimate takeaways are that fleets should continue to stay ahead of costs by exercising discipline and that using ATRI’s benchmarking report can help inform ongoing cost management strategies.

The full report can be found at https://truckingresearch.org/2026/07/analysis-of-the-operational-costs-of-trucking-2026-update/