Pump price is trucking’s #1 concern: ATRI survey

This year’s study of the top issues facing trucking undertaken by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) had a number one concern that didn’t even crack the top 10 in the prior two years: fuel prices . That issue was number one in the responses submitted by drivers and number two for carriers, finishing in the top slot overall. The carriers’ rating is particularly notable, because it undercuts the idea that fuel surcharges are able to effectively move the cost of fuel on to the shipper with little impact on the carrier, or that higher prices and the fuel surcharges that come with are a positive for carriers. The results in the survey suggest otherwise, at least to some degree. Although fuel prices didn’t make the list the last two years , ATRI, the research arm of the American Trucking Associations (ATA), said 2026 was the fourth time in the 22 years of its top 10 survey that fuel prices were the number one overall concern.