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ArcBest, ABF to Raise LTL Rates 5.9% on Average From June 22
Carriers Raise Contract Rates After Jump in Spot Rates
Key Takeaways:
- ArcBest and ABF Freight will raise LTL customer rates by 5.9% on average starting June 22.
- The increase comes as costs rise, spot rates strengthen and FTR’s Trucking Conditions Index hit a four-year high of 11.6 in April.
- ABF bought two Tesla Semis for California linehaul operations, with ArcBest citing potential expansion to Reno, Nev., and other locations.
Rates for less-than-truckload customers of ArcBest and its ABF Freight unit are set to rise 5.9% on average starting June 22 in the latest illustration of the ongoing freight market rebound.
ArcBest ranks No. 13 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America, and ABF Freight ranks No. 8 in the LTL segment of the freight market.
The impact on specific lanes and shipments may vary compared with the average increase, ArcBest said June 8.
Costs for carriers continue to increase, and spot rates across all segments of the North American freight market jumped in the first five months of 2026. Contract rates typically lag the vagaries of spot rates.
FTR Transportation Intelligence’s Trucking Conditions Index jumped to 11.6 in April, its strongest reading in more than four years, the research group said June 8.
“We expect overall trucking conditions to peak this summer, but our TCI forecast remains solidly favorable for carriers over the two-year forecast horizon,” FTR Vice President of Trucking Avery Vise said in comments accompanying the data.
ArcBest’s asset-based division saw a 10% rise in billed revenue per day through the first two months of the second quarter. Tonnage per day rose 5%, but revenue per hundredweight excluding fuel surcharge was flat, the carrier said June 4 in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The asset-based division accounted for around 63% of ArcBest’s total revenue in the first quarter of 2026, according to results released May 1.
Fort Smith, Ark.-based ArcBest operates 4,229 tractors and 24,125 trailers, according to Transport Topics data.
The tractor total will increase by at least two rigs though, as the company announced June 11 that ABF had bought a pair of battery-electric Tesla Semi tractors.
ArcBest said the tractors primarily will support linehaul operations in California before an expansion of services to Reno, Nev., and potentially other locations.
ABF carried out a 2025 pilot, and the initial purchase of the two tractors will allow the company to keep evaluating the Semi over a longer period and a broader operating footprint before making additional investment decisions, it said.
During the three-week pilot, ABF racked up 4,494 miles with one Semi, averaging 321 miles per day with overall energy consumption of 1.55 kilowatt-hours per mile.
Tesla pitches the Semi by promising energy consumption of less than 2 kWh per mile on its website.
ABF’s test of the Semi trounced the standard key performance indicator if taken as a stand-alone metric and also surpassed publicly available data released by carriers in earlier pilot tests and by the North American Council for Freight Efficiency.
The first Tesla Semi rolled off the company’s high-volume production line in Reno on April 29. Tesla’s Semi factory in Reno can produce up to 50,000 vehicles per year, it said.
