Fleets have traveled 19% fewer miles between breakdowns so far this year

American trucking fleets have seen a 13.1% decrease in miles traveled between unexpected repairs so far this year, the American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council reports. 

The report was released by the council’s TMC/FleetNet America Vertical Benchmarking Program on Wednesday, July 7th, and covers the first quarter of 2021. 

The information was collected via survey, and found that fleets averaged 29,506 miles of operation between unscheduled road repairs so far this year – 18.7% fewer miles than in the previous quarter. 

To break it down further, truckload carriers averaged just 21,856 between breakdowns, 13.1% fewer miles than last year; while LTL carriers averaged 44,380, down from 54,556 in the final quarter of 2020. Tanker fleets averaged 17,420, as compared to 19,905 last quarter. 

“The data tells us that if, for example, the truckload carriers running the average miles between breakdowns could reach best-in-class performance, they would increase their miles between breakdowns by 89%,” said Emily Hurst, manager of data and analytics at FleetNet America, “and that would result in overall lower costs.” 

“As the economy improves going into the second half of 2021, fleets need to be vigilant in their maintenance practices to minimize unscheduled road repairs. Our data shows the best-in-class fleets are doing that and others can benefit from following industry recommended practices,” said TMC Executive Director Robert Braswell.