A sluggish economy, particularly in the key manufacturing and housing sectors, has resulted in several publicly traded less-than-truckload carriers reporting negative numbers for the first two months of the third quarter.
Old Dominion Freight Line, XPO, and Saia—the Nos. 10, 13, and 19 on the 2025 FleetOwner 500 list of the largest for-hire carriers—saw their August tons per day fall an average of 5.4% from the same month in 2024. Of the three companies, Old Dominion stood out on the downside with a tons-per-day drop of more than 9%, while the team at Saia limited the year-over-year drop to 2.2%. The companies’ shipments per day showed a similar trend, but Marty Freeman, Old Dominion president and CEO, pointed to better pricing as an encouraging sign.
“While our volumes declined on a year-over-year basis, the improvement in our revenue per hundredweight demonstrates the value that our customers realize from our consistent commitment to superior service,” Freeman said in a statement. “We have the capacity to handle incremental volumes when the demand environment improves. As a result, we remain confident that we are the best-positioned carrier to win profitable market share over the long term.”
The LTL outlier so far in Q3: ArcBest, which in the second quarter added more than 100 accounts and has seen those wins translate into solid growth since. Shipments per day at the No. 24 carrier on the FleetOwner 500 rose 5% in August and are up 4% quarter to date, while tons per day were up 2% for both time periods.
