Dive Brief:
- The American Transportation Research Institute is calling on carriers of all sizes to participate in its annual Operational Costs of Trucking survey, the nonprofit announced last month.
- Carriers are asked to share driver pay, insurance premiums and equipment lease or purchase payments in exchange for a customized report that compares their fleet’s costs and operations to an anonymized peer group of the same sector and size.
- “This information will help every carrier benchmark their financials and prepare them for contract negotiations,” said Dr. Robert Howard, Dohrn Transfer Co. president and COO, in the release. “Equally valuable are the customized insights into how our costs and performance measure up to our peers in this challenging freight market.”
Dive Insight:
Through the survey, ATRI aims to document changing cost patterns in trucking operations and how fleets can leverage the cost data to achieve higher profitability and improved operational efficiencies.
The American Trucking Associations’ research arm is asking targeted questions to gather those insights, such as:
- What are the three primary types of commodities that your company hauls?
- What was your company’s annualized tractor-trailer driver turnover rate in 2024?
- What was your fleet size, average age and average number of miles traveled in 2024?
As the industry continues to explore clean energy opportunities, the survey also includes questions about alternative fuel trucks, like battery and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. Check out the full survey here.
Last year’s survey found that cost of trucking reached a new all-time high in 2023 at $2.27 per mile, a less than 1% YoY increase.
The biggest increase in trucking costs were for premium expenses, which were up more than 12% in 2023 due to more expensive trucks, litigation and ongoing inflation. Rising equipment payments for trucks and trailers was also contributed to swelling costs.
