Survey: only 55% of shippers filled their LTL trucks to full capacity in 2022

Only 55% of shippers filled their trucks to capacity last year, according to a freight market study commissioned by tech firm Flock Freight concluding that wasted space and damaged loads overshadowed otherwise favorable business conditions in 2022.

Those shippers that could not fill their trucks were unable to fill an average 25 out of 53 linear feet of available deck space, and one in five truckloads moved completely empty in 2022, the firm said.

Flock Freight drew the conclusions from its annual survey, which was conducted by third party polling company Drive Research and included 200 responses collected between February 3 and 23.

The survey showed that exorbitant fees and wasted capacity threatened shippers’ profitability despite a favorable deflationary market throughout 2022, Flock Freight said. Other survey statistics showed:

• Less than truckload (LTL) shippers paid an average of $1,988 for each damaged and late shipment
• On time in full (OTIF) fees are costing shippers $253,198 in average, with $83,064 from LTL shipments in 2022
• 86% of LTL shippers experienced damage claims in 2022, with LTL carriers covering only 66% of those damage claims
• 22.2% of LTL shipments incurred accessorial fees in 2022
• 19.2% of LTL shipments incurred OTIF fees in 2022
• 21% of U.S. truckload freight capacity is going to waste within partially empty trucks