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Over the last three quarters, long-haul trucking remained steady while regional truck trips increased by 3.8% and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) rose 5.4%, pointing to an American supply chain adapting and shifting to meet end consumer demands, according to Geotab’s Health of U.S. Supply Chain report.
“By analyzing approximately 12% of all U.S. commercial traffic, our report offers a unique view of freight movement across key U.S. cities and corridors,” says Mike Branch, VP, data and analytics, Geotab. “At a time of significant change and economic pressures, having real-world supply chain data helps organizations better understand the challenges facing their operations.”
Key takeaways:
- Long-haul held steady with VMT up modestly each quarter. The freight backbone is steady and there’s no upstream contraction.
- Regional was the fastest-growing class with trips +3.8% and VMT +5.4% over the past three quarters, signaling more demand and inventory activity closer to end markets.
- Hub-and-spoke capacity shrank following a normal post-holiday dip and recovery, with in-service utilization rising to a three-quarter high of 84.3%, suggesting high efficiencies.
- Last-mile optimized: Door-to-door trip volume rose continually from Q4 2025 in all four cities studied while at the same time miles per trip fell indicating more deliveries and shorter routes.
- Drayage activity shifted away from trucks. Los Angeles/Long Beach reported their strongest month of 2026 (up ~12% from a year earlier) but analysis showed flat truck activity, which points to rail absorbing the growth.
- Geotab analyzed more than 1.2 million long-haul journeys per quarter; approximately 1 million regional trips per quarter; about 230,000 hub-and-spoke trips per quarter; more than 50 million door-to-door delivery trips per quarter across four cities; and approximately 254,000 port entries per quarter for the country’s two busiest ports.
- A corresponding universal drop in miles per trip from Q1 to Q2 suggests a general focus on efficiency by adjusting routes instead of just piling on more deliveries.
- Los Angeles recorded the largest increase in delivery trips, jumping nearly 40% above the Q4 baseline by Q2.
- Denver had the most consistent drop in miles per trip, with routes shrinking 6.7% in Q1 and another 19.7% in Q2 as drivers made more local stops.
- New York City dominates local logistics, with last-mile activity making up nearly 66% of all commercial driving miles and half of all commercial vehicles in the city.
- Atlanta showed the steadiest growth across all metrics, with last-mile trip volume jumping 24.5% in Q2.
