Truck operating costs hit record $2.37 per mile, ATRI says

The cost of operating a large commercial truck in the US has reached a record $2.37 per mile, according to the American Transportation Research Institute's 2026 operational cost report — the highest figure since ATRI began annual tracking in 2008.

The number came from Rebecca Brewster, ATRI's president and chief operating officer for the group that has served as the American Trucking Associations' research arm since its 1954 founding. Brewster, who has spent 34 years at ATRI and announced she will retire in early 2027, laid out the cost picture and the industry's broader challenges in an interview with DC Velocity's Victoria Kickham.

What is driving the $2.37 per mile figure?

Diesel tops the list. Brewster said fuel prices are "the biggest topic of conversation right now," and local news crews across the country are interviewing drivers at the pump showing it costs "$1,000-plus to fill up a commercial vehicle." The burden falls hardest on small carriers and owner-operators, who lack the scale of large fleets to absorb it.

Line items are climbing across the board. Repairs and maintenance costs have risen as the freight recession squeezed fleet cash and pushed operators to hold equipment longer — racking up more miles per truck and higher workshop bills. Tire costs are up. Insurance premiums keep climbing even as the industry's safety performance improves, Brewster said.

How are fleets responding?

Not with expansion. ATRI's research documents a contraction in workforce "pockets": fleets are cutting back-office staff because revenue has fallen. On insurance, carriers are taking higher deductibles, self-insuring, and testing other tools to push down liability premium costs.

What does the Supreme Court broker-liability ruling change?

The May Supreme Court decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II LLC — holding freight brokers liable for the actions of carriers they hire — is, in Brewster's words, "really far-reaching." She expects the ruling to dominate ATRI's research advisory committee annual meeting next March, where members will work out how to frame granular research on its impact.

The decision sharpens attention on CSA scores, the Compliance, Safety, and Accountability ratings the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration assigns to identify high-risk carriers, and on the underlying algorithms that calculate them. Brewster's caveat: small fleets and owner-operators without detailed data systems to document their safety performance for shippers and brokers will be at a disadvantage.

Is there really a driver shortage?

Brewster reframed the question. "It's not really a quantity issue; it's a quality issue," she said — finding qualified drivers is the persistent problem in ATRI's annual top-industry-issues survey.

The demographics are unfavorable. The driver workforce is aging, and the industry has struggled to attract younger drivers. It has also failed at recruiting women for over-the-road positions — despite ATRI research showing women drivers outperform their male counterparts on safety. That, Brewster argued, gives carriers "a really strong safety rationale" to hire more women, provided they can retain them.

An ATRI study published a couple of years ago identified the discrete obstacles women face on the road: limited access to exercise facilities, and not feeling safe enough when parked to step out of the truck. Bathroom access remains a live problem — some shippers and receivers still refuse drivers use of their restrooms, Brewster said, and carriers need to press customers on it.

What is coming next from ATRI?

By the end of the year, ATRI will publish the update to its biennial "Cost of Congestion" report. The previous edition found truck drivers waste 1.2 billion hours annually idling in traffic — the equivalent of 435,000 drivers sitting idle for a full year. Brewster, an Atlanta resident, doubts the new numbers will show improvement: "I'm afraid that is not the case."

A newly released study on telematics found a striking gap: the data metrics fleets rate as most valuable to their operations are not the ones most widely used. That mismatch, Brewster suggested, leaves room for wider adoption — and operational gains — across fleets of every size and sector as carriers head into 2026 still searching for cost relief that the $2.37-per-mile record shows has not yet arrived.