Aaron Graft on freight market
From Aaron Graft of Triumph on FreightWaves Today with Craig Fuller · · FreightWaves
“I have never seen more demand to add equipment and that level of confidence that they're showing it just has a different ring to it than 2021. Right now our payments we're doing about 50 billion annualized in payments and the average invoice size or what you would call the price per load is $1,500. If you go back to 2021 and look at our payments network that was $1,126. And then you adjust for inflation between those two points and it's about 8% higher now in real dollars than it was.”
On , Aaron Graft, Founder, Vice Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer at TRIUMPH FINANCIAL INC, spoke about freight market during Aaron Graft of Triumph on FreightWaves Today with Craig Fuller on FreightWaves.
About Aaron Graft
Aaron Graft, founder and CEO of Triumph Financial, appeared on FreightWaves Today in June 2026 and in an April 2026 interview on the Silk Road Nexus podcast. In the FreightWaves appearance, Graft discussed the current freight market, stating that while nominal rates are higher than in 2021, input costs have risen, leaving carriers with thinner margins. He noted that the company's payments network is processing about $50 billion annualized, with an average invoice size of $1,500, compared to $1,126 in 2021. Graft said that the departure of drivers who drove at the cheapest rates has removed a segment of capacity, and he described the current market dynamics as feeling "more structural than cyclical," adding that regulatory barriers may slow the supply side's response, potentially leading to a prolonged period of rising freight prices. In the April interview, Graft explained Triumph Financial's role in the freight ecosystem, describing the company as a bank, fintech, and data network that provides factoring services and a payment platform. He said that 80% of risk in the industry comes from fraud rather than creditworthiness, and that the company's acquisition of Green Screens was intended to provide customers with aggregated, anonymized market intelligence. Graft emphasized the company's goal of enabling confident transactions across the supply chain, from shippers to carriers to fuel stops, and expressed a desire for small carriers to have a sustainable business model.