TFI's Truckload Segment Shines as LTL Operating Ratio Slips

TFI International's Truckload segment posted operating income of $100.2 million in the third quarter, up 13.3% year on year, while the company-wide operating ratio improved to 89.5% from 91.2% despite a deteriorating LTL performance.

The Montreal-based carrier (NYSE: TFII) released its earnings Thursday afternoon, and CEO Alain Bedard led his prepared statement with the Truckload numbers — a notable shift for a company investors mostly know through its LTL operations.

Bedard described Truckload as having a "remarkably strong" quarter. "Our Truckload performance is particularly gratifying, with double digit top line growth despite fewer trucks and operating income that nearly doubled," Bedard said in the statement.

What drove the numbers?

The Truckload segment's headline revenue growth was striking: revenue rose 142.1% against the year-ago quarter. But that comparison is distorted by the weak freight market of 2025, which depressed the year-ago base. Cleaner measures of underlying performance show adjusted EBITDA in Truckload up 24.7% and operating income up more than 90%.

A year ago, Truckload operating income was $52.6 million. It now stands at $100.2 million — nearly doubling, achieved with a much smaller fleet.

That is the part Bedard wants investors to register. The truck count in the segment fell almost 12% year on year, and the number of owner-operators declined about 4.8%. Fewer trucks, more operating income. That is the efficiency story TFI has been trying to get the market to credit.

The Truckload operations are substantial but smaller than TFI's better-known LTL segment. The third quarter may be the catalyst that finally gets that recognition, at least if management keeps delivering.

Where did LTL slip?

The LTL segment tells the opposite story on costs. Its operating ratio rose compared with a year ago, dragging against the company-wide improvement that Truckload delivered.

LTL operating income came in at $44.4 million, up 6.6% — but that follows a year-ago figure of $77.7 million on an adjusted basis, so the segment is still running well below its prior-year earnings power.

Several LTL metrics fell sharply, driving the deterioration in adjusted OR:

• Revenue per hundredweight excluding fuel, the key yield figure, declined less than 1%.
• Revenue per shipment excluding fuel fell 22%.
• Average weight per shipment was down 3.58%.

Volume was the offset. Total LTL shipments rose 4.62%, meaning TFI moved more freight but earned materially less on each shipment — a mix and yield problem rather than a demand problem.

What about the rest of the business and Q4?

The Logistics segment quietly out-earned LTL, posting operating income of $49.4 million — above LTL's $44.4 million for the quarter.

On earnings, diluted EPS reached $1.28, compared with $1.02 a year earlier. TFI said it expects to surpass that in the fourth quarter, projecting EPS between $1.30 and $1.40 for the three months.

For shippers and forwarders, the signal in these numbers is capacity discipline. TFI is running a smaller Truckload fleet and generating close to double the operating income — evidence that carrier capacity contraction, not volume recovery, is doing the heavy lifting in truckload earnings right now. On the LTL side, falling revenue per shipment suggests carriers are still buying volume with price in a soft market.

TFI's earnings call with analysts is scheduled for Friday at 9:30 am EDT, where Bedard is expected to face questions on the LTL yield decline and whether Truckload's margin gains hold into a fourth quarter the company has already guided higher.