Small trucking companies file 221 bankruptcies in 2026

Justin Stoneman has been in the trucking industry for 27 years, operating out of central Michigan’s agricultural heartland. Hauling grain and fertilizer around the Midwest, his 12-odd tractor-trailers generated more than $3 million in annual revenue during their best times. Those days are over. In the past year, Stoneman’s business has been squeezed by a range of pressures, from war-fueled spikes in diesel prices to rising insurance costs and onerous debts — all of which have pushed him to the brink. In May, his company, Stoneman Trucking, filed for bankruptcy protection, but he has since lost hope and is shifting to chapter 7, to fully shut down operations. “I’m so frustrated,” Stoneman said. “It’s like, what about all this ‘Drill, baby, drill’?” Stoneman isn’t alone. At a time when affordability issues are at the center of U.S. voters’ concerns heading into next week’s midterm elections, America’s smaller trucking operators are feeling the pinch. Some 221 trucking companies have filed for bankruptcy so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, extending a three-year spike at sustained levels not seen in decades. Around two-thirds of small U.S. carriers — typically operating 20 or fewer tractors, and oftentimes only just one — report that revenue is either flat or down compared with the year-ago period, according to a survey of hundreds of such companies conducted over the past two months by freight-management firm Truckstop and Bloomberg Intelligence. Almost 40% of these operators said that in six months, they expected to be out of trucking or weren’t sure where they’d be. Chip…

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