{"id":83031,"date":"2026-02-09T19:07:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T22:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/890835160"},"modified":"2026-02-09T19:07:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T22:07:47","slug":"u-s-bank-freight-market-improves-modestly-in-q4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/09\/u-s-bank-freight-market-improves-modestly-in-q4\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Bank: Freight market improves modestly in Q4"},"content":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. \u2014 The U.S. truck freight market showed modest improvement in shipment volumes during the fourth quarter of 2025 and tightening capacity drove shipper spending to its highest level since early 2024, according to the latest U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index.<\/a><\/p>\n

National shipments rose 1.5% from the previous quarter, while spending jumped 4.6%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe capacity story is the defining theme of Q4. Shippers paid significantly more to move slightly more freight\u2014clear evidence that available truck capacity continues to tighten,\u201d said Bobby Holland, U.S. Bank director of freight business analytics. \u201cBetween fleet exits and carriers reducing their rosters, the industry is feeling the effects of prolonged contraction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smallest Year-Over-Year Drop Since Q2 2022<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Compared with Q4 2024, national shipment volumes fell 4.9%\u2014the fifteenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline. However, this marked the smallest year-over-year drop since Q2 2022. For 2025 overall, freight levels declined 9.9% from 2024, though this was less than half the 20.4% annual decline in 2024.<\/p>\n

Shipper spending rose 5.2% year-over-year in Q4\u2014the first year-over-year increase in three years. Over the past three quarters, spending has increased 7.9% while shipments rose just 1.0%, highlighting the rate pressure shippers are experiencing. The spending increase cannot be attributed to diesel prices, which averaged 5.2 cents per gallon lower than Q3, according to Department of Energy data.<\/p>\n

Mixed Regional Performance<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Regional performance was mixed for shipments but showed broad-based spending increases. The Southwest, Midwest, and Northeast posted sequential shipment gains ranging from 3.5% to 5.4%, while the West and Southeast contracted. All five regions recorded sequential spending increases, and four of five saw year-over-year spending gains\u2014another indication of tightening capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreight market conditions remained challenging in Q4, with manufacturing, construction, and consumer spending all showing strain,\u201d said Bob Costello, senior vice president and chief economist at the American Trucking Associations.<\/a> \u201cThe capacity adjustments we\u2019re seeing across the industry are a natural response to these prolonged demand headwinds.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index measures quantitative changes in freight shipments and spend activity based on data from transactions processed through the U.S. Bank Freight Payment platform. U.S. Bank Freight Payment processes $46 billion in freight payments annually for shippers and carriers across the U.S. The Index insights are provided to U.S. Bank customers to help them make business decisions and discover new opportunities.<\/p>\n

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\"Dana<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
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Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… S. Bank director of freight<\/span> business analytics. \u00e2\u0080\u009cBetween fleet … of tightening capacity. \u00e2\u0080\u009cFreight<\/span> market conditions remained challenging … U.S. Bank Freight<\/span> Payment Index measures quantitative … changes in freight<\/span> shipments and spend …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83031\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}