Small Operators, Big Pressures: Which Australian Road Freight Businesses Survive, and Why
Sep 27, 2026
Summary
Australia’s road freight industry is growing, but it is becoming an industry of one-person businesses, and those are the businesses most likely to close. ABS data shows:
- Growth from owner-operators. Road freight businesses rose 22.7% to 65,225 between June 2021 and June 2025. Businesses with no employees grew 53.6%, while those with 1 to 19 employees shrank.
- Rising closures. Exits rose from 7,661 in 2021–22 to 10,425 in 2024–25, and the exit rate climbed from 14.4% to 16.6%.
- Lower survival for the smallest. Only 45.6% of non-employing road transport businesses trading in June 2021 were still trading four years later, against 56.8% across all industries. Road transport businesses with 5 to 199 employees survived better than average.
- Small revenue base. 55.8% of road freight businesses turned over less than $200,000 a year at June 2025.
With diesel prices surging in 2026 and an ageing truck fleet, small operators who know their true costs and price accordingly give themselves the best chance of lasting.
The shape of the industry
Australia had 65,225 road freight businesses at June 2025, up 22.7% from 53,157 in June 2021. Almost all of that growth came from operators with no employees. Small employers with 1 to 19 staff actually shrank.
| Road freight businesses, by employment size | June 2021 | June 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-employing (no staff) | 26,531 | 40,759 | +53.6% |
| 1–4 employees | 21,702 | 19,739 | −9.0% |
| 5–19 employees | 3,849 | 3,633 | −5.6% |
| 20–199 employees | 1,010 | 1,019 | +0.9% |
| 200+ employees | 65 | 75 | +15.4% |
| Total | 53,157 | 65,225 | +22.7% |
Sources: ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits (cat. 8165.0), data cube 2, Road Freight Transport (ANZSIC class 4610). June 2021 from the June 2019 to June 2023 release (18 December 2023); June 2025 from the June 2021 to June 2025 release (16 December 2025). Change percentages are calculated from these figures.
Non-employing businesses rose from 49.9% to 62.5% of the industry in four years. In practice, that means the typical road freight business is now an owner-driver operating alone.
Most are also small by revenue. At June 2025, 11,633 road freight businesses turned over less than $50,000 a year and a further 24,742 turned over $50,000 to under $200,000. Together that is 55.8% of the industry. Only 1,130 businesses, 1.7%, turned over $10 million or more (ABS 8165.0, data cube 3, June 2021 to June 2025 release).
The longer trend is growth too. An earlier ABS release recorded 50,256 road freight businesses in June 2017, although earlier releases used different size bands and have since been revised, so that comparison is approximate.
Entries, exits and closure rates
More road freight businesses are closing each year, and the exit rate has risen from 14.4% to 16.6% in three years. New entrants still outnumber closures, which is why the total keeps growing, but the gap is narrowing.
| Financial year | Operating at start | Entries | Exits | Entry rate | Exit rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 | 53,157 | 11,967 | 7,661 | 22.5% | 14.4% |
| 2022–23 | 57,463 | 12,411 | 9,292 | 21.6% | 16.2% |
| 2023–24 | 60,263 | 12,488 | 9,839 | 20.7% | 16.3% |
| 2024–25 | 62,912 | 12,738 | 10,425 | 20.2% | 16.6% |
Sources: ABS 8165.0, data cube 2, Road Freight Transport (ANZSIC 4610). 2021–22 and 2022–23 from the 18 December 2023 release; 2023–24 and 2024–25 from the 16 December 2025 release. Rates are as published by the ABS. The ABS revised its June 2023 count between releases (60,582 in the 2023 release, 60,263 in the 2025 release).
Exits rose 36% between 2021–22 and 2024–25. Most closures are the smallest operators: of the 10,425 exits in 2024–25, 7,944 (76.2%) were non-employing businesses and 2,284 had 1 to 4 employees. Only 31 businesses with 20 or more employees exited that year.
An ABS exit means a business stopped actively trading, for example stopped remitting GST. It is not necessarily a failure: some owners retire, sell or move into employment. Even so, the rising exit rate matches other evidence of stress covered below.
Who survives: size matters
Just over half of road transport businesses trading in June 2021 were still trading four years later, well below the average across all industries. The gap is concentrated among the smallest operators. Road transport businesses with 5 to 199 employees survived better than the all-industry average.
| Survived June 2021 to June 2025 | Road transport | All industries |
|---|---|---|
| Non-employing | 45.6% | 56.8% |
| 1–4 employees | 65.4% | 69.0% |
| 5–19 employees | 81.3% | 78.5% |
| 20–199 employees | 88.9% | 85.4% |
| 200+ employees | 83.0% | 88.7% |
| All businesses | 52.9% | 63.1% |
Sources: Road transport calculated from ABS 8165.0 data cube 4 (survival by subdivision and employment size, 16 December 2025 release), summing all states and territories for ANZSIC subdivision 46, Road Transport. All industries from ABS 8165.0 data cube 1, Table 15 (26 August 2025 release).
Two cautions apply. First, the ABS publishes survival only for the whole Road Transport subdivision, which includes buses, taxis and rideshare as well as freight; 93,489 road transport businesses were operating in June 2021, against 53,157 in road freight alone. Second, the 200+ group is small (100 businesses at the start), so its rate can move a lot on a few closures.
The pattern is still clear. A non-employing road transport business had less than an even chance of lasting four years, while businesses with 20 to 199 employees had close to a nine-in-ten chance. The ABS data does not say why. Likely factors include a broader customer base, stronger buying power on fuel, tyres and insurance, and dedicated staff to manage costs and contracts.
The pressures behind the closures
Small operators face the same cost shocks as large fleets but with less room to absorb them. Four pressures stand out in the current data.
Fuel. The ACCC reports that average retail diesel in the five largest cities rose from 176.6 cents a litre on 20 February 2026 to 322.4 cents on 31 March 2026, after conflict escalated in the Middle East. It was 286.8 cents on 23 September 2026. The Government cut fuel excise by 32 cents a litre from 1 April to 30 June 2026 and fully restored it to 53.7 cents on 3 August (). At the ABS average of 53.1 litres per 100 km for articulated trucks, that price move adds about $77 of fuel per 100 km at pump prices ().
Freight prices chasing costs. The ABS reported that road freight transport output prices rose 15.5% in the June quarter 2026, driven by fuel (). Operators on fixed rates or without a fuel levy carry the gap until their rates are reset.
An ageing fleet. BITRE reports an average age of 16.2 years for heavy rigid trucks and 12.5 years for articulated trucks in 2025, with 122,187 heavy rigid trucks on register built in 2004 or earlier (). Older trucks generally mean higher repair bills and more downtime.
Business failures. CreditorWatch data reported by the Australian Institute of Credit Management put the road transport closure rate at 8.46%, about one in 12 businesses, in the 12 months to 31 October 2025, citing fuel, maintenance and labour costs, interest rates and price competition (). Across all industries, ASIC recorded 14,722 companies entering external administration for the first time in 2024–25, up 33.2% on the prior year ().
CreditorWatch and the ABS measure closures differently, so their rates are not directly comparable. Both point the same way.
Practical steps for small operators
The data shows larger operators survive longer, but it doesn’t show that size alone is the answer. Small operators can adopt the cost disciplines larger fleets rely on. These steps are general guidance, not findings from the ABS data.
- Know your true cost per kilometre and per tonne. Include finance, depreciation, insurance and registration, not just fuel and wages. A quote below cost only speeds up an exit.
- Separate fuel from the base rate. A fuel levy lets rates move with the diesel price instead of absorbing shocks like early 2026.
- Tie reviews to published indexes. Agree in advance which series triggers an adjustment, such as ACCC or AIP diesel prices, the ABS Consumer Price Index or the ABS road freight producer price index.
- Budget for fleet age. Set aside a maintenance allowance per kilometre that reflects the truck’s age, rather than paying for major repairs out of cash flow.
- Watch customer concentration. A single contract that makes up most of the revenue leaves a small operator exposed if it is lost or repriced.
- Review regularly. Re-run the numbers whenever fuel, interest rates, insurance premiums or work patterns change.
The Freight Metrics and are built for the first three steps: they turn an operator’s own figures into cost per kilometre, per tonne and per day, and set a fuel levy customers can see.
About the data
- Road freight means ANZSIC class 4610, Road Freight Transport, in the ABS Counts of Australian Businesses (CABEE). The survival figures use the broader subdivision 46, Road Transport, because the ABS does not publish survival at class level.
- Size is the ABS annualised employment size range. Non-employing businesses have no employees; many are owner-drivers.
- Entries and exits are based on businesses starting or stopping active trading, such as remitting GST. An exit is not always a failure.
- Revisions. Figures are taken from the release named in each source line. The ABS revises recent years between releases, so figures for the same year can differ slightly between releases.
- Latest year. Class-level detail for 2025–26 had not been released at the time of writing; the August 2026 release covers industry divisions only.
- Calculations. Percentage changes, shares and national survival rates for Road Transport are calculated from the ABS figures shown.
References
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, June 2021 to June 2025 (cat. 8165.0), data cubes 2, 3 and 4, released 16 December 2025, and data cube 1, released 26 August 2025. .
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, June 2019 to June 2023 (cat. 8165.0), data cube 2, released 18 December 2023.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, June 2015 to June 2019 release, data cube 2 (June 2017 figure).
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, .
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, .
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, .
- Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics, .
- Australian Institute of Credit Management (2025), (CreditorWatch data).
- Australian Securities and Investments Commission, .
- Freight Metrics, Truck Operating Cost Calculator Trial and Fuel Levy Calculator.