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Trucking Costs increase 6% in 2023, ATRI
[ July 24, 2024 // Gary G Burrows ]The cost of operating a truck rose marginally to reach a record US$2.27 per mile, according to the American Transportation Research Institute’s 2024 Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking.
While the increase was only 0.8 percent over the previous year, when surcharge-protected fuel costs are excluded, marginal costs rose 6.6 percent to US$1.716 per mile, the not-for-profit research firm said.
The annual report analyzes line-item costs, operating efficiencies, and revenue benchmarks by fleet sector and size, providing crucial benchmarking for motor carriers and a comprehensive overview of the financial state of trucking for decisionmakers in both industry and government.
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 8.8 percent to US$0.36 per mile, driver wages grew by 7.6 percent to US$0.78 per mile, and repair and maintenance costs grew by 3.1 percent to US$0.20 per mile. The exception to this trend was truck insurance premiums, which grew by 12.5 percent to US$0.10 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 percent for all non-tank operations, and driver turnover rose by five percentage points in the truckload sector.
These pressures combined with low freight rates strained profitability across the industry. Average operating margins were 6 percent 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.
The report also includes analyses of cost trends in 2024 and beyond, including, for the first time, carrier-reported changes in first quarter 2024 costs.
The full report is available on ATRI’s website, at https://tinyurl.com/ycpr7evk
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Tags: American Transportation Research Institute