Trucking expenses climbed to a new high in 2022 for the second year in a row, according to the 2023 update of American Transportation Research Institute's (ATRI) analysis of the operational costs of trucking. A record number of motor carriers participated in this year’s research, which analyzes a wide variety of line-item costs, operating efficiencies, and revenue benchmarks by fleet size and sector.
Marginal costs ballooned 21.3% last year over 2021 to $2.251 per mile, surpassing the $2 per mile mark for the first time in the history of ATRI’s operational cost report. Trucking's cost per mile has jumped 34% since 2021, and 2022's mark is 61 cents higher per mile than 2020. Costs per hour in 2022 totaled $90.78, also the highest in the report's history.
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While inflation was a key driver of trucking costs last year, ATRI Research Associate Alex Leslie said it was not the primary driver.
"On an annual basis, consumer inflation was 6.5%, producer inflation was 6.4%, and core inflation about 6%. Setting fuel aside, which was a huge contributor to inflation but was itself closely tied to domestic and geopolitical issues, the cost of trucking rose at about twice that rate, by 12%," he said. "In several cost centers – which rose at an even greater rate – other factors discussed in the report likely played a bigger role, such as parts availability and supply chain impediments, the atypical truck market/demand and the competitive labor environment."
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Though fuel was the largest driver of the spike in trucking operational costs last year (53.7% higher than in 2021), multiple other line-items also rose by double digits. Driver wages increased by 15.5%, to $0.724 per mile, reflecting the ongoing industry effort to attract and retain drivers. Driver benefits, however, remained stable in 2022. Truck insurance climbed barely 2% year-over-year.
