Carriers reported a mix of freight dynamics for mid-quarter Q1, suggesting different exposures and advantages to the market.
Heavier freight and higher volumes benefited some carriers, perhaps overlapping with positive manufacturing sentiment in the first few months of the year, a notable shift from 2025.
“[W]e remain cautiously optimistic about the direction of the domestic economy,” Old Dominion Freight Line CEO and President Marty Freeman said in a news release.
Results were preliminary, multiple companies noted. Here’s what carriers said on their performance for the first two months of 2026 compared to a year ago.
ArcBest
The Arkansas based transport conglomerate had tonnage increase by 6%, shipments per day up by 2% and billed revenue per hundredweight down by 5%, according to a securities filing.
A changing freight profile helped its tonnage, but lower fuel surchange revenue contributed to the revenue shrink, the company said in its filing. ArcBest noted there’s still softness in the market.
Old Dominion Freight Line
For the carrier, LTL revenue per hundredweight increased 3.5%, despite metrics showing a decrease in daily LTL tonnage and shipments per day, the company reported.
The company is remaining disciplined in its yield management and sees ongoing improvement in its revenue per hundredweight metric.
Saia
Tonnage per workday was down 4.8%, with January year over year shipments declining but February YoY shipments improving, according to a financial release.
The company noted “contractual renewals in January 2026 were 6.6% and remained strong in February 2026 at 5.9%.”
XPO
The carrier’s tonnage increased by 0.2% in February, driven by a volume uptick, according to a news release. That entailed a 3% increase in shipments per day despite a 2.8% decrease in weight per shipment.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to state XPO’s numbers pertained to just one month in Q1.
