The FTL and LTL Shipping Services Market, estimated at USD 17.45 Bn in 2025, is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 4.1% and reach USD 23.12 Bn by 2032.
The market growth is fueled by the increasing demand for intelligent, connected, and sustainable transportation solutions, along with shifting mobility trends and wider adoption across passenger and commercial segments. Innovations in vehicle connectivity, automation, and electrification, supported by strategic investments, are enhancing safety, efficiency, and user experience. Furthermore, favorable government policies, rapid infrastructure upgrades, and the push toward greener mobility are accelerating market expansion and unlocking new growth avenues for industry participants.
Global FTL And LTL Shipping Services Market: Drivers
Freight forwarding and shipping services have learned to adapt to new technologies over time. Technologies designed specifically for the freight industry are becoming more widely available. Implementing this technology enable freight firms to not only improves services and reputation but also allows firms to differentiate themselves from competitors. Below are some of the technologies used by a freight company. Many operations in the freight industry can be improved with the push of a button. The ‘Push of a Button’ technology enables businesses to easily coordinate and plan shipments, allowing them to control the transportation of goods through clear, up-to-date tracking. The client can learn about their shipment's location, status, and expected delivery time. Moreover, the ‘Automatic Identification Technology’ has made possible for operations to run much more smoothly, when transporting goods from one location to another. The use of automatic technologies such as handheld scanners allows for more efficient day-to-day operations. Reports and logs can be easily printed off at the end of each xday with the implementation of electronic identification technology and onboard computer systems when transporting goods. These are the technological drivers, which are expected drive in 2025 the FTL and LTL shipping services market growth.
Global FTL and LTL Shipping Services Market: Restraints
Fuel expenses make up a sizable portion of shipping costs, and changes in fuel prices can have a big impact on how profitable FTL and LTL shipping services are. Volatile fuel prices may make it challenging for service providers to set fair prices for their offerings, which may lead to a decline in the demand for those services. The market for FTL and LTL shipping services can be severely impacted by fluctuating fuel prices. Fuel prices can have a direct impact on the cost of these services because they make up a sizable portion of transportation charges. Increased transportation costs brought on by rising fuel prices may result in a decline in the demand for FTL and LTL shipping services. In order to retain profitability, service providers might have to raise their rates, which could further decrease consumer demand.
Global FTL and LTL Shipping Services Market- Impact of Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted negatively by numerous effects on supply chain activities, hence there is a need for rapid re-engineering to meet the change in demand after the pandemic. There is a drastic change in transport system such as transportation of only essentials and no other shipments because of typical disruptions such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and particularly because of COVID-19. Transportation planning and execution are critical components of supply chain management. The supply chain focuses on domestic and international transportation opportunities, which will need a reshaping of transportation planning, carrier identification, and execution processes. Because of COVID-19, procurement and order fulfilment activities have decreased, so the customer may want to deliver less freight. Furthermore, in order to save money on FTL costs, the customer are focusing on cost-effective shipping solutions such as less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping. Both shipping services has their challenges of being affected by virus and higher freight costs. The obligation of using LTL may result in longer transit times and damages during transportation, as a result of additional touch points i.e. touching the goods and shipment documents by various drivers at various hubs and transit terminals, while coercing use of FTL may result in higher freight costs.
To know the latest trends and insights prevalent in this market, click the link below:
https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/ftl-and-ltl-shipping-services-market-4748
Key Trends and Analysis:
Influence of E-commerce: Truck drivers are exempted from the hours of service regulations (HOS), if they drive within a 100-air-mile radius of their normal work reporting location. With the rise of e-commerce, more truck drivers are relocating to locally operated positions with more flexible rules. The e-commerce boom caused by the COVID-19 protocols was underestimated by LTL carriers. As a result, straight trucks with lift gates are being purchased by LTL carriers for smaller businesses, strip malls, and residential areas. They are also collaborating with local cartage agents and white glove carriers who specialize in commercial and residential deliveries of large items such as furniture and exercise equipment
LTL Freight Volumes Will Remain Volatile in 2025: Transportation services such as LTL and FTL experienced an extreme unbalanced market throughout the year during the peak of COVID-19 shutdowns. However, transportation services rates are at an all-time high right now, and transport carriers are struggling to keep the rates high. Transportation services remained high at until the first quarter of 2025. If strict shutdowns are reinstated, transportation services rates may fall, if many shippers are forced to close the transportation business. Alternatively, the transportation services market could rise again in response to increased consumer demand for transportation of goods and cargo.
Technology to Control LTL Freight Spend: Transportation automation including integration of electronic logging device, labor management, warehouse management system, transportation management system, enterprise resource planning, software as a service, electronic data interchange, and application programming interface systems, among many others, are vital to maintain LTL freight spend. Usage of technology will be the most important LTL trend in the forecast years, as more carriers and shippers turns to adopt technology to control freight costs and improve efficiency of transportation services.
Key Takeaways:
The global FTL and LTL shipping services market was valued at US$ 17.45 Bn in 2025 and is forecast to reach a value of US$ 23.12 Billion by 2032 at a CAGR of 4.1% between 2025 and 2032.
Service segment held dominant position The global FTL and LTL shipping services market in 2025, accounting for 33.4% share in terms of value, increasing approval and launch of new products is expected to propel growth of the segment during the forecast period.
Global FTL and LTL Shipping Services Market: Competitive Landscape
Key players operating in the global FTL and LTL shipping services market include YRC Freight, XPO Logistics, Old Dominion, UPS Freight, Estes Express Lines, ABF Freight, R+L Carriers, Saia Motor Freight Line, Southeastern Freight Lines, Holland Regional, J.B. Hunt, Schneider, Swift Transportation, and Werner Enterprises.
Global FTL and LTL Shipping Services Market: Recent Developments
In 6 February 2025, Southeastern Freight Lines, the leading provider of regional less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation services, announced its “Southeastern Serves” program is celebrating over 10 years of serving local communities across the Sunbelt. In honor of this milestone, the trucking company partnered with U.S.-based nonprofit Harvest Pack, a humanitarian hunger relief organization that addresses food insecurity in local communities, to prepare 50,000 meals for Harvest Hope Food Bank.
In 3 January 2025, Carrier Logistics Inc. (CLI), veteran provider of freight management software for Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) fleets, announced it has completed development work to fully integrate with LTL APIs from SMC³. The new integration will benefit customers using FACTS freight management software by automating the handling of LTL shipments with other capacity providers.
Contact Us