I recently spoke with a CEO who told me rising freight costs were killing his margins. I told him something he really didn't want to hear: “This may only be the beginning!”
With higher rates and much higher fuel surcharges your freight budget for 2026 is most likely already blown. And if your company ignores what's happening in the market today, your 2027 freight budget may already be on its way to fantasyland.”
He wasn't particularly happy with that message. But rather than dismissing it, he asked a much better question: “What are you seeing, and what should we be doing about it?”
That's the question every shipper should be asking right now. I talk regularly with carrier CEOs, and what I'm hearing is remarkably consistent:
• Carrier operating costs are going up.
• Capacity is leaving the market.
• Carriers are becoming more selective about the freight—and the shippers—they want to handle.
Add sharply higher diesel costs (up by 61% in 8 months), rising insurance expenses and other operating pressures, and it's not difficult to see where this could be headed.
We've been through enough freight cycles to know what happens next. As capacity tightens, leverage shifts toward carriers. Routing guides start failing, spot-market exposure increases, and companies that waited too long find themselves reacting to the market instead of managing it.
And here's where I get frustrated.
We've been signaling these changes are imminent for months. But far too many people read the warning, agree with it—and then go right back to business as usual. Six months later, when the market confirmed what the warning signs told us was coming, everyone, especially C-Level executives, acts surprised.
Don't let that be your company.
How much higher will truckload costs go or when will they peak? No one knows. But that's not the important question. The real question is: What can be done to reduce your exposure if truckload costs increase another 15% to 25%?
TranzAct has identified five proven strategies shippers can put to work now to help mitigate higher truckload costs. They involve more than simply negotiating lower rates. These strategies address how you're sourcing freight, using capacity, and how analytics can expose and reduce unnecessary costs right now before you lose negotiating leverage.
Having conducted billions of dollars in transportation sourcing events, TranzAct knows where to look and what to do.
So rather than reading another Two-Minute Warning, agreeing with it and doing nothing, why not give us 30 minutes? We'll look at your situation, share the five strategies, and identify opportunities to protect your freight budget.
No pitch. No deck. Just a conversation about what you can do now before the market makes the decisions for you.
→ Schedule Your 30-Minute Freight Exposure Review
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☎️ Give us a call at 630-833-0890
✉️ Send us an email at solutions@tranzact.com
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🕑 Schedule a conversation with a member of the TranzAct team