Industry Costs Increased More Than 6% During Freight Recession

The overall marginal costs of operating a truck hit $2.270 per mile in 2023. While the increase was only 0.8% over the previous year, when surcharge-protected fuel costs are excluded, marginal costs rose 6.6% to $1.716 per mile, according to data collected by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI).

Key takeaways:

• Overall, 2023 expenses rose moderately across most categories, with average costs across line-items increasing at less than half the rates experienced during 2021 and 2022. Truck and trailer payments grew by 8.8% to $0.360 per mile, driver wages grew by 7.6% to $0.779 per mile, and repair and maintenance costs grew by 3.1% to $0.202 per mile. The exception to this trend was truck insurance premiums, which grew by 12.5% to $0.099 per mile after two years of negligible change.
• The soft 2023 freight market posed many challenges for operational efficiency, as tracked in the report. Deadhead mileage, a critical financial drain, rose to an average of 16.3% for all non-tank operations, and driver turnover rose by five percentage points in the truckload sector.
• Average operating margins were 6% or lower in all fleet sizes and sectors other than LTL. The truckload and specialized sectors experienced drops in per-mile or per-truck revenue, and most saw “other costs” – expenses outside of the core marginal line-items – increase as a share of total revenue.