Originally published at: Why Owner-Operators Are Leaving The Small-Fleet Tier, And Where Their Trucks Go Next - FreightWaves
For three and a half years the smallest tier of trucking has been quietly emptying out, with the number of tractors run by one-to-six-truck carriers sliding from a 2023 peak near 398,000 all the way back to about 362,000, and the easy explanation, that owner-operators are simply going out of business, misses what the federal…