NAICS 484122Canadian industry · 6-digitregional market

General freight trucking, long distance, less than truck-load (multiple shippers)

SoftwareFleet & Freight Operations Software 4841

This Canadian industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in long distance, general freight trucking of less than complete truck-loads. Less-than-truck-load carriers are characterized by the load of shipments from multiple shippers or the use of terminals to consolidate shipments, generally from several shippers, into a single truck for haulage between a load assembly terminal and a disassembly terminal, where the load is sorted and shipments are re-routed for delivery. Generally the trips are not same-day return. — Statistics Canada, NAICS 2022A

Establishments · CanadaA: 3,507
Under 10 employeesA: 87%

Size and shape

How many businesses there are and how small they are. Fragmentation is the first thing an entrant — or anyone selling software into this industry — needs to know, and it is one of the few things that is actually measured.

Canadian establishments by number of employeesA

1–42,90583%

5–91625%

10–191775%

20–491705%

50–99652%

100–199211%

200–49960%

500+10%

Of 3,507 Canadian establishments with employees, 87% have fewer than ten — an industry of very small operators.

Where they areA

Ontario1,83152%

Quebec58717%

Alberta41812%

Manitoba2918%

Largest four provinces by establishment count. Establishments with employees only — sole operators with no payroll are not in this table, so in trades and personal services the true number of businesses is higher.

How many new establishments are still tradingA

Transportation and Warehousing, US · opened 2020

84.1%

1 year

67.4%

3 years

52.7%

5 years

36.1%

10 years

opened 2015

Measured, not forecast: the share of US establishments opening in one year that were still active later. It counts good operators and bad ones together, which is exactly why it is the honest answer to “what are the odds”. It is for the whole sector rather than this market, and the ten-year figure comes from an older cohort because no younger one has reached ten years.

No US figure is shown. County Business Patterns is coded to the 2017 US edition of NAICS; this code either does not exist there, names a different industry, or is outside the programme's coverage (most of agriculture, rail, postal and public administration are). A figure is attached only where both the code and the title agree.

How businesses here compete

The structural profile of subsector 484, which every industry beneath it inherits. This is analyst judgment from how the subsector is organised — not research into this industry, and not a measurement.

regional competitionmedium capitalUNVERIFIEDinherited from 484 Truck transportation

The most fragmented large industry in the country: a truck and an authority is an entry. Rates are cyclical, insurance is the rising cost, and specialised freight prices far better than dry van.

Who sets the price: The spot market and brokers for small carriers; contract rates for large.
The software it runs on: Transportation management, dispatch, electronic logging and fuel-tax compliance.

Market screens and studies

Market-entry records filed along this branch of the hierarchy. A record at or beneath this code is about this industry; one above it is about something wider that contains it.

Screened one level up. Nothing is filed at this exact code; the screen for 48412 General freight trucking, long distance covers it.

Operating businessScreenedfiled at 484121

Owner-Operator TruckingOne thing must be true

binding constraint: growth quality

The freight cycle is where this screen dies. TFI International — the Canadian consolidator, and the best-run comparable available — saw revenue fall to $7.88B from $8.4B in 2025, with less-than-truckload down 12% and logistics down 13%, and net income down to $310.6M from $422.5M. A single-truck operator entering that market carries a truck payment against spot rates set in the same downturn, with fuel, insurance and a driver shortage that is really a wage problem. The fleet software at 4841 is screened separately.

NAICS 4841212 vendors named6 sourced figuresOpen →

Software serving this industry

The vertical software markets filed along the same branch — who sells to these businesses and who they would have to displace — and then the generic categories every business buys whatever it does.

Sold across the wider branch

Vertical softwareScreenedfiled at 4841 General freight trucking

Fleet & Freight Operations SoftwareOne thing must be true

binding constraint: incumbent vulnerability

Incumbent Motive and Samsara

Hardware-attached telematics is the same razor-and-blade structure that kills the veterinary study: the software rides on installed devices with recurring connectivity revenue. A software-only entrant competes against a subsidised price.

NAICS 48415 vendors named6 sourced figuresOpen →

And what every business buys · 25 generic categories

Sold to every industry rather than this one, so they are filed against the software industry's own code. The same few vendors recur across most of them.

Who works here

The occupations employed in Transportation and warehousing, most concentrated in it first. The share is measured against the whole sector, not this industry — the published cross-tabulation stops there.

Concentrated in this sectorA

Mail and message distribution occupations One industry 90.8%

Train crew operating occupations One industry 90.7%

Transportation officers and controllers One industry 75.7%

Transport truck and transit drivers Mostly one sector 65.4%

Managers in transportation and postal and courier services Mostly one sector 63.9%

Taxi, personal service and delivery service drivers Mostly one sector 57.7%

Contractors and supervisors, technical maintenance trades and heavy equipment and transport operators Mostly one sector 22.6%

Water and rail transport operators and labourers and related occupations Mostly one sector 11.4%

Automotive service technicians Mostly one sector 9.1%

Crane operators and water well drillers Mostly one sector 6.6%

These jobs are mostly done here. An operator in this industry is competing for them against others in the same industry, not against the whole economy.

And the jobs every business has

Administrative and financial supervisors Across the economy 13.9%

Customer and information services representatives Across the economy 5.8%

Financial, insurance and related administrative support workers Across the economy 5.1%

Survey, statistical and data entry occupations Across the economy 5%

Technical inspectors and regulatory officers Across the economy 3.9%

Technical occupations in electronics and electrical engineering Across the economy 3.7%

Legislative and senior managers Across the economy 3.3%

Administrative services managers Across the economy 3.1%

Administrative, property and payroll officers Across the economy 2.7%

Shoe repairers, shoemakers and upholsterers Across the economy 2.7%

Found across at least fourteen of the twenty sectors. But note the shape of this industry: 87% of establishments have fewer than ten employees, and at that size most of these roles are one person wearing several hats, or bought in from outside.

All 162 occupations →

Alongside this industry

This is the most specific level NAICS defines. The other industries under 48412 are its nearest neighbours.

Code	Industry	Establishments · CA	What is known
484121	General freight trucking, long distance, truck-load (single shipper)	21,342	Owner-Operator Trucking