ATRI’s Operational Costs survey adds multi-year benchmarking and asks carriers to share driver pay and operational costs

ATRI launched its annual Operational Costs of Trucking survey asking motor carriers to report 2025 metrics through April 24, requesting granular figures on driver pay, equipment payments, insurance premiums and key performance indicators such as revenue per truck per week.

Survey mechanics and what’s new in 2026

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) is collecting data across all carrier sizes and sectors. For carriers that participate repeatedly, ATRI is introducing a new capability: customized reports will now include year-over-year comparisons so fleets can track trends over time rather than relying on a single benchmarking snapshot.

This change moves the deliverable from purely peer-based benchmarking to a hybrid product: participants still receive an anonymized peer comparison, but multiyear participants get trend lines drawn from sector-wide datasets that show how costs evolve.

Requested metrics (what carriers should prepare)

• Driver compensation: wages, bonuses, and benefits.
• Fuel spending: gallons, per-mile fuel cost and total fuel outlay.
• Truck & trailer payments: lease/loan and amortization schedules.
• Repair & maintenance: scheduled maintenance, unexpected repairs.
• タイヤ and consumables: replacement cycles and costs per mile.
• 保険 & crashes: premiums, deductibles, and loss experience.
• Operational KPIs: revenue per truck per week and utilization metrics.

Why year-over-year analysis matters to carriers

Fleets operate on thin margins and decisions are made on incremental moves: accept a load, delay a purchase, hire another driver. ATRI’s expanded reports help fleets answer the all-important question — is this year better or worse than last year? The new outputs include sector-based 費用 per mile and trend tracking for fuels, equipment payments, maintenance, tires, insurance and driver wages.

Last year’s findings showed industry marginal costs rose 3.6% to $1.78 per mile excluding fuel — the highest non-fuel operating cost level in the survey’s history. Even if fuel and repair costs ticked down in some pockets, truck and trailer payments plus rising driver benefits squeezed profitability.

Sample year-over-year trends

• Fuels: volatility remains, but averaged lower than peak months in 2025.
• Equipment payments: higher monthly obligations as newer trucks replace aging units.
• Repair & maintenance: mixed — scheduled maintenance steadier, emergency repairs unpredictable.
• Tires: costs up modestly with longer replacement intervals in some fleets.
• 保険 & crashes: premiums climbing in certain regions with upticks in claims.
• Driver wages & benefits: persistent upward pressure to attract and retain talent.

How fleets can use the customized report

ATRI’s customized deliverable serves three practical uses:

1. Benchmarking against anonymized peers to check competitiveness on pay, maintenance spend and utilization.
2. Trend identification via year-over-year lines that highlight emerging cost pressures before they bite margins.
3. Decision support for budgeting, rate negotiations and capital planning — for example, whether to accelerate fleet replacement or renegotiate insurance layers.

A quick practical table for CFOs and ops managers

Operational takeaways and supply-chain impacts

From a logistics perspective, the survey’s expanded analytics will ripple into pricing, tender acceptance and long-term planning. When driver pay and equipment financing climb simultaneously, shippers can expect continued pressure on freight rates. Carriers that use ATRI’s trends to reef in costs and target inefficiencies may win market share — it’s a long haul, but disciplined operations win out in uneven freight cycles.

I’ve sat with route planners who treat ATRI outputs like a weather report for budgeting: you don’t control the storm, but you can decide whether to reroute or delay. The proverb applies — don’t put all your eggs in one basket — diversify lanes, customers and equipment types to spread risk.

現場からの声

Industry leaders emphasize the value of these reports. Andrew Hadland, CFO of Hirschbach Motor Lines, noted that ATRI’s benchmarking is an “important input for ensuring healthy performance in our costs and operations despite economic headwinds.” That’s practical talk, not fluff — finance teams need numbers they can trust when negotiating rates or planning capex.

Checklist: preparing to participate

• Gather 2025 ledgers: payroll, fuel invoices, maintenance bills, insurance statements.
• Ensure consistent unit definitions: per-mile, per-truck-week, and revenue measures.
• Consider multi-year participation to unlock trend analytics.

Highlights: ATRI’s 2026 adjustments make the survey more strategic — year-over-year comparisons, sector-based per-mile analytics and continued anonymized peer benchmarking. These tools help carriers monitor marginal costs, set competitive driver wages, and decide on equipment financing. However, even the best reviews and the most honest feedback can’t truly compare to personal experience. On GetTransport.com, you can order your cargo transportation at the best prices globally at reasonable prices. Book your Ride GetTransport.com.com

Forecast and action: Globally, this update doesn’t rewrite freight markets overnight, but it sharpens fleet-level planning — cost transparency enables smarter rate cards and fleet optimization. For regional and sectoral carriers, the new year-over-year visibility is material: expect tighter rate negotiations and more targeted lane strategies. Start planning your next delivery and secure your cargo with GetTransport.com.

In summary, ATRI’s expanded Operational Costs survey shifts benchmarking from static snapshots to a dynamic tool that tracks cost drivers like driver pay, insurance, equipment payments and per-mile marginal costs. Fleets that provide accurate 2025 data and participate over multiple years will gain sector trendlines useful for budgeting, freight tendering and capital decisions. For shippers and carriers alike, the bottom line is clear: better data supports smarter logistics — from parcel and pallet dispatch to containerized and bulky international haulage — and platforms like GetTransport.com simplify the operational side by offering reliable, cost-effective transport options for moves, deliveries, and bulky goods. Use the intelligence to refine your freight, dispatch, and routing choices, and keep your transport and forwarding decisions grounded in measurable metrics.