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TFI International headquarters in Montreal. (TFI)

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profit and revenue fell in the third quarter of 2025 as ongoing customer uncertainty hurt volumes at the Montreal-based carrier’s less-than-truckload and truckload divisions.

The carrier reported net income of $84.7 million, a decrease of 32% compared with $125.9 million in Q3 2024.

TFI reported revenue of $1.969 billion in the most recent quarter, a decrease of 9.9% compared with $2.185 billion in the year-ago period.

The company’s truckload unit reported revenue of $684.1 million for the most recent three-month period, a 5.4% decline from $722.9 million a year earlier.

Commodity Tariffs Hurt Flatbed Operations

Volume at the truckload division is taking a beating from tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, canceled infrastructure projects and the recent U.S. federal government shutdown, executives told analysts.

“If you don’t know the rules, everyone sits on the sidelines,” said CEO Alain Bédard, calling for a speedy end to the tariff spat between the U.S. and Canada, plus a quick conclusion to revisions to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement free trade pact.

“We need to have a deal between the three countries. Then we know what it is. We can make decisions. Then it’s clear sailing,” Bédard said.

The truckload division posted an operating ratio of 92.3 in Q3 compared with 90.6 in the year-ago period. Its specialized operations had a 92.4 OR, versus 90.5 a year earlier while TFI’s Canadian conventional truckload operations’ OR matched that performance.

Carriers’ OR provides insight on how well a company is balancing its costs and revenue generation. The lower the ratio, the better a company’s performance.

“Steel is dead for us. We’re big in steel,” Bédard said. “The overheads are killing us. Everything is slow right now. The demand is slow right now.”

The Trump administration introduced Section 232 tariffs on aluminum and steel in March and doubled the levies in June.

At the moment, the truckload division has 50% too many staff for its current level of business, said Chief Financial Officer David Saperstein, but TFI wants to be able to support customers, including Paccar and Freightliner when they start making more trucks.

Some 30% of the specialty truckload operations’ business is with the Department of Defense. TFI’s truckload division has kept staff on during the U.S. government shutdown and the ongoing downturn in truck production, Bédard said.

“We are suffering because we’re keeping our people. Because they’re good people,” the company’s top executive said. Bédard said TFI has a lot of trucks parked but wasn’t going to lay off employees because the carrier doesn’t want to have to rehire drivers or other staff when the market rebounds.

Bédard Praises New U.S. LTL Leadership

The impact of tariffs on the LTL segment is typically less adverse, observers say.

Still, volume at the division fell in the most recent quarter, although Bédard was fulsome in his praise for recently installed leadership at the unit’s U.S. operations.

The LTL division posted revenue of $687 million in Q3, a decrease of 12% compared with $770.8 million in the year-ago period.

LTL tonnage decreased 7.3% to 822,000 tons from 887,000, and LTL revenue per hundredweight (excluding fuel surcharge revenue) fell 3.3% to $26.13 from $27.03. The reduction in tonnage was due to a 10.7% decline in shipments to 1.296 million from 1.452 million, although this was partially offset by a 3.8% increase in weight per shipment to 1,269 pounds from 1,222 pounds.

TFI’s LTL division posted an operating ratio of 88.8 in the most recent quarter compared with 87.3 in the year-ago period. Its U.S. operations had a 92.2 OR, matching the performance of 12 months earlier. TFI’s Canadian LTL operations reported an 81.2 OR, versus 76.3 a year earlier.

TFI made substantial improvements in winning small- to medium-size business contracts in 2025 after shedding a good deal of business in 2024, Bédard said. The quality of freight improved over the past year, as did pricing, he added.

The carrier also improved its payment collection over the past year.

“We hold on to the freight until we know who’s going to be paying us,” the company’s top executive said.

In addition, the U.S. LTL operations have become more rigorous in checking that shipments are what the customer says they are, Bédard said, noting: “This is just being professional in our business, right?”

TFI also is attempting to improve its two- and three-day LTL delivery service in the U.S., Saperstein said, although its next-day and four-day product matches the performance of its peers.

“We knew we were not as good as our peers. We’re changing that,” Bédard said, adding that improvements are being made in processes and focus.

Next-day and four-day freight comprise less than 20% each of TFI’s U.S. LTL business, with two- and -three-day freight accounting for more than 60%, he said.

The unit has reduced missed pickups by 60% and cut rescheduled pickups by 34%, Saperstein said.

“We feel way, way better about 2026 than 2025,” Bédard said of the LTL market. “Finally, the sun is going to come up in ’26.”

Service Center Sales, Swaps

In addition, TFI is looking to reduce and re-orient its U.S. LTL network.

“We have 2,000 doors too many,” said Bédard. TFI should have around 5,000 to 7,000 doors, he said, but they need to be in the right locations.

“The network was built to do 40,000 shipments/day and we’re doing half that,” he said. “We’re talking to all our peers. We’re working on balancing our network.”

TFI ranks No. 4 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 6 among LTL players.

But Bédard is still looking for a major acquisition, he said, although the ongoing freight rate recession and economic uncertainty have delayed any such plans.

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