Knight-Swift says shippers already seeking peak-season capacity

Todd Maiden

Thu, April 23, 2026 astatine 10:29 AM CDT 6 min read

Knight-Swift Transportation anticipates important contractual complaint hikes during the existent and upcoming bid cycles arsenic the freight marketplace emerges from a astir four-year downturn. Strict regulatory enforcement and the caller substance terms daze are driving non-compliant and underperforming operators retired of the market. Even without a notable pickup successful demand, proviso constraints person been terrible capable to unit shippers to contemplate realignment with asset-based carriers providing meaningful scale.

The Phoenix-based company’s CEO, Adam Miller, told analysts connected a Wednesday quarterly telephone that mini-bid enactment is expanding arsenic shipper routing guides fail. He said immoderate carriers are nary longer honoring rates negotiated conscionable 1 oregon 2 months agone and that immoderate of its customers are already looking to fastener up peak-season capacity. After capturing mid-single-digit contractual complaint increases successful its truckload concern to commencement the year, the institution is present eyeing high-single- to low-double-digit increases connected the remaining 70% of its book.

“I don’t deliberation we’ve ever truly seen the unit connected capableness … coming from regulatory forces versus conscionable mean economics,” Miller said. “I deliberation we could spot much capableness coming retired of the web than we typically would spot successful a cycle, and I consciousness similar that could beryllium a catalyst to truly thrust a beardown bid play this twelvemonth [and] besides into adjacent year.”