Every mile costs more for private carriers

Private carriers are sharpening their focus on route and network optimization, pursuing better backhaul opportunities and investing in newer trucks and technology. (Krista Bussey/Transport Topics)

Private fleet operators, much like their counterparts in for-hire trucking, are facing a barrage of cost pressures ranging from elevated fuel prices and escalating equipment and maintenance costs to increasing driver pay and higher insurance premiums.

To help mitigate these rising operational costs, private motor carriers are sharpening their focus on route and network optimization, pursuing better backhaul opportunities and investing in newer trucks and technology to become more efficient and resilient.

Private carriers have risen to the challenge by leveraging their fleet as an asset, said Gary Petty, president and CEO of the National Private Truck Council.

In particular, private fleet operators have placed a strong emphasis on containing costs and optimizing value, Petty said, achieving what he described as “slow, steady and sustained growth.”

The economic slowdown that started to take hold in late 2022 affected both for-hire and private carriers across the supply chain, said Dan Murray, senior vice president of the American Transportation Research Institute.

ATRI recently reported that the cost to operate a for-hire truck reached its highest point ever last year at nearly $2.34 per mile, “at a time when the market was extremely soft,” Murray said.

“Since a truck is a truck, for-hire and private fleets share many of the same line-item expenses: tires, fuel, registration fees, tolls,” he said. “However, private fleets are somewhat insulated from some of the for-hire cost chaos associated with insurance, driver turnover and spot-market fluctuations.”

This year, the freight market is recovering and for-hire pricing is on the upswing, Murray observed.

“The unknown is at what point do higher for-hire rates justify shifting cargo back to private trucks,” he noted. “That nuanced, private versus for-hire equilibrium has been underway for decades.”

The true market indicator is a shift in demand rather than simple volume fluctuations, said Bill Cain, director of product and engineering for the transportation business at industry technology supplier Trimble.

“Rather than making a binary choice between for-hire and a private fleet, shippers are adopting a blended, actively managed framework, continuously re-optimizing their mix as isolated cost components such as wages, rates, insurance and [Environmental Protection Agency] compliance fluctuate independently,” he said.

Driver wages and turnover

As costs rise, driver retention remains an important priority for private fleets.

Some private carriers are taking steps to reduce turnover by means other than wages, Cain said, describing apprenticeship programs, mentorship from veteran drivers, and mental health and education support.

Retail giant Walmart is developing its driver workforce internally through its associate-to-driver program, which enables some warehouse and store workers to earn a commercial driver license and drive for the company’s private fleet.

Walmart, which ranks No. 1 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest private carriers in North America, also offers annual driver pay that can exceed $100,000.

Sysco, which ranks No. 3 on the TT100 private carriers list, is another fleet with a long-established program to recruit and train drivers.

Network optimization

Private fleets have also redesigned their networks, optimized routes and reduced deadhead miles to yield cost savings and efficiencies.

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Private carriers like US Foods are looking for areas where efficiency can be improved in their fleet operations. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)

US Foods, a food service company that operates its own fleet, said routing optimization was crucial for fuel savings in 2025.

“As business has grown, we have nonetheless been able to reduce the number of miles driven by our trucks, save fuel and manage fuel-related risks, and decrease [greenhouse gas] emissions through routing optimization and rightsizing our vehicles by route type,” the company said in its sustainability report, released in June.

Since 2022, US Foods reduced total miles driven by nearly 4.9 million despite growth in deliveries during the same period, the company said, crediting route planning software from Descartes as central to the effort. The technology, deployed across all US Foods markets in 2025, alone is responsible for an estimated 2% annual reduction in miles driven, the fleet said.

US Foods ranks No. 5 on the TT100 list of private carriers.

Supermarket company Wegmans, operating in nine states and the District of Columbia, makes a practice of backhauling its own inbound freight upon completion of deliveries to stores. This maximizes efficient use of equipment and drivers to prevent or reduce empty miles, Wegmans said on its website.

Finding backhauls

As private fleets look for new ways to improve asset utilization, some are turning to platforms designed to match unused backhaul capacity with available freight.

Private Fleet Net Zero aggregates available private-fleet lanes and uses artificial intelligence to connect them with participating shippers.

Big private fleets typically aren’t on the lookout for one load from a broker or a shipper, said PFNZ founder Russ Jones.

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Jones

“They really want repetition,” he said. “What they really like is a buyer who’s buying that lane 200 times a year, 400 times a year.”

Participating buyers’ access to the PFNZ platform is provided through a variety of integrations, commonly a programming application interface. This summer, PFNZ announced a partnership with McLeod Software that provides truckload buyers access to more than 40,000 lanes of unused private and dedicated fleet backhaul capacity.

Volvo Trucks last year rolled out Load Finder, a free service for customers that matches trucks with loads based on location, price, route and driver availability. The truck maker noted when it introduced the service that ATRI found that empty miles account for approximately 16% of all non-tank truck operations.

The Volvo platform aggregates data from more than 40 load boards. Fleets can connect their electronic logging device and transportation management system to Load Finder, said Madeline Sullivan, product marketing manager at Volvo. A user can specify parameters such as location and distance for an acceptable load, she said.

Maintenance and safety costs

Streamlining vehicle maintenance and maximizing uptime represents another important way for private fleets to manage costs.

In the fall, Volvo Trucks will roll out enhanced remote programming in the form of “unattended” over-the-air updates. In the past, a truck had to be running while the update took place, Sullivan said.

“Now, the truck can be off. So, the driver initiates the update, they turn off the truck, close the door, lock it, walk away, and the truck updates in the background by itself,” she said.

Sullivan also pointed out that safety technologies are crucial for controlling costs associated with crashes.

“You’re avoiding downtime from that accident, and you’re avoiding the potential for these nuclear verdicts,” she said.

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Sullivan

In-cab warning systems are winning greater acceptance from drivers, Sullivan said, adding that the redesigned VNL’s warning system issues “much more palatable sounds.”

“They’ll still get your attention, but they’re not going to scare you,” she explained. “Some of the systems that I’ve driven, it sounds like somebody else is honking their horn at you.”

Last year, telematics vendor Samsara introduced Connected Asset Maintenance, a maintenance management system that harnesses a fleet’s data to save time, boost utilization, track cost, and streamline workflows.

Meanwhile, Samsara’s dashcam and AI camera systems reduce accidents and their costly repercussions, said Arpan Podduturi, the company’s head of safety. Samsara uses AI agents to engage a driver based on detected behaviors such as yawning, vaping and close following.

The tech firm also introduced Fuel Command Center, designed to give operations managers a single view of total and recoverable fuel spend to pinpoint cost issues through categories like idling, fueling location or driver efficiency, as well as fuel fraud, Podduturi said.

“Managers can identify quarterly trend data and take action directly on the page, whether that’s turning on in-cab idling alerts, adding preferred fuel vendors or acting on another recommended fix,” he said.

Fuel efficiency and aerodynamics

Total cost of ownership continues to drive equipment decisions.

Mario Sanchez-Lara, general manager of the North American private carrier business at engine maker Cummins Inc., said private carriers typically keep trucks for six to 10 years. Residual value is not an overriding consideration for private fleets, he said.

“They’re not necessarily like the for-hire carriers that try to manage the life cycle and try to harvest equity out of the trucks as they replace equipment,” Sanchez-Lara noted.

Private carriers tend to hold onto trucks longer because of the increased cost of vehicles and safety equipment, he added.

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Rising fuel costs are chief among the cost pressures pushing private fleets to find new ways to squeeze more efficiency from every gallon. (THEPALMER/Getty Images)

Many of Cummins’ private carrier customers were for years regular buyers of 450 horsepower engines with 1,650 pound-feet of torque. Within the past three years, however, Cummins has seen private fleet customers seek fuel savings by opting for its EX ratings designed for powertrain optimization, 420 or 400 hp, and higher torque.

“A lot of them decided to go slower, just bring the [engine] speeds down a little bit, and use features that allow them to save fuel,” Sanchez added.

Volvo’s redesign of its VNL, introduced about two years ago, features aerodynamic enhancements that provide fuel efficiency gains of nearly 7%, and up to 10% on large sleepers in some configurations, said Chris Stadler, product marketing manager.

As private fleets and their suppliers work to bat down costs, new ones arise.

EPA’s stricter limits on nitrogen oxide emissions, which go into effect in January, will require new hardware and increase new truck prices.

“That’s what’s really driving a lot of the hardware updates or technology evolution,” said Duane Tegels, powertrain marketing manager at Volvo Trucks North America. “That requires the engine to get up to operating speed pretty quickly to get that aftertreatment system up to temperature.”