DRIVING THE NUMBERS:
A look at the trucking industry’s financial landscape
Trucking Industry’s Operational Costs
Continue to Climb:
Learn How to Mitigate Them at NAFC’s
Annual Conference
June 10-12 in Indianapolis
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Rebecca Brewster, President and COO,
A m e r i c a n Tr a n s p o r t a t i o n R e s e a r c h
Institute
In what likely came as no surprise
to trucking fleets, the latest analysis
from ATRI shows that the industry’s
operational costs are on the rise. ATRI’s
recently released 2018 update to the
annual Operational Costs of Trucking
report documented the average marginal
cost per mile incurred by motor carriers
in 2017 increased six percent to $1.69.
This analysis uses financial data
provided directly by for-hire trucking
fleets throughout the country to
document and analyze trucking costs
on vehicle- and driver-based line items.
The initial study was completed in 2008
and has been conducted annually since,
yielding a decade of industry operational
costs. The original intent of the research
was to provide public sector agencies
with a baseline for future transportation
infrastructure improvement analyses.
However, the 2008 study was widely
utilized by motor carriers as a high-level
benchmarking tool and as a result,
ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee
recommended institutionalizing
the data collection and analysis on
an annual basis. Since its original
publication in 2008, ATRI has
received over 16,000 requests for the
Operational Costs reports.
Cost increases were broad-based in
2017, with growth in nearly every major
line-item over the year. Driver wages
increased for the fifth consecutive year
and the combined cost of driver wages
and benefits represent 43 percent of the
overall cost per mile.
Fuel prices rebounded from decade-lows
and the growing cost and sophistication
of newer truck models continues to
drive up costs for both purchasing and
repair and maintenance. Motor carrier
operational costs have now surpassed
the 10-year average since ATRI began
its annual Ops Costs research.
The research also analyzes costs by
industry sector, looking separately at
Truckload, Less-than-Truckload and
other sector costs. Additionally, the
research breaks out costs by region of
the country, where fleets that operate
primarily in the Northeast experience the