For-Hire Carriers Gain Record Share of Private Fleet Freight
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For-hire motor carriers won their largest share of outbound freight from companies with their own fleet in the past 20 years, according to a study released Sept. 15.
At a 19% share of the outbound freight of firms that operate their own fleet, for-hire carriers took their largest portion of business in the history of the survey after a 3-percentage-point year-over-year increase, the data show.
For-hire carriers’ slice of the inbound freight shipments pie also increased marginally, but remains near historic lows. The share nudged up to 27% in 2025, but that 2-percentage-point increase came after an all-time low of 25% was posted in the previous survey.
NPTC Chairman David Barth said during a call with reporters that private fleet owners were now applying more sophisticated analytics to their inbound freight needs, but had to make sure any changes did not complicate their outbound freight requirements — where they make their money according to NPTC — and employees’ needs.
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Barth’s day job is as Wegmans Food Markets’ transportation safety manager. Wegmans ranks No. 13 among grocery carriers on the Transport Topics Top 100 private carrier rankings. The 113 store-grocery chain operates 200 tractors, of which 181 are fueled by compressed natural gas day cabs. Wegmans expects all its tractors to be CNG-fueled by 2026, Barth said. The company also owns 1,231 trailers.
Private fleet owners took advantage of continued excess capacity in the for-hire market and subsequent rate recession to secure better terms and cut their costs, the trade group said.
Cost was the biggest challenge for private fleets, claiming a top spot that had previously been locked down for a decade by driver-related issues, the survey data show.
How Outbound Freight Is Handled
National Private Truck Council
Some 61% of respondents said cost was their biggest challenge.
Driver-related issues — including the aging driver population, driver recruiting, driver turnover, driver hiring, driver retention and the driver shortage — was named as a challenge by 56% of respondents.
The rest of the top five issues were safety (accidents and injuries) at 48%; equipment and maintenance issues (46%); and economic/business conditions (39%).
A total of 104 companies submitted data, about a third of NPTC’s members. Some 80% of respondents also contributed to the 2024 study.
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Shipments by study respondents rose 11.7% year over year in 2025, compared with 7.5% in 2024.
FTR Transportation Intelligence expects dry van truck loadings to decline 0.6% in 2025, another 0.3% in 2026 and increase 2.3% in 2027. The research and analysis group expects refrigerated van truck loadings to rise 0.7% in 2025, 2026 and 2027.
Volume rose 8.2% year over year, compared with 8.6% in 2024 and 8.4% in 2023, the data show. The value of private fleet freight transportation by respondents rose 6.6% in 2025, compared with 7.2% in 2024.
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NPTC Treasurer Mike Schwersenska said during the Sept. 15 call that there remains a lot of freight to carry, but private fleet owners are transporting it themselves rather than engaging for-hire carriers to do so.
Schwersenska’s day job is vice president of transportation at poultry processor Brakebush Transportation. Brakebush ranks No. 26 among food service carriers in the TT rankings, with 108 over-the-road tractors and 265 refrigerated trailers.
The average fleet size of respondents to the survey was 626, compared with 601 a year earlier and 483 power units in 2023. Combined, the fleets operate a total of 54,255 power units. The total vehicle count includes 28,037 heavy-duty vehicles.
Some 48% of private fleets expect to grow in the coming year, whereas 13% expect their rolling stock total to decrease, the data show.
Of those acquisitions, 45% of respondents said they would just own the tractors, versus 38% a year earlier, and 27% said it would be a combination of leasing and owning, compared with 34% in last year’s survey.
That said, a slim majority of firms on the 2025 TT Top 100 private carrier list either trimmed the size of their in-house fleet or held their tractor count steady year over year.
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