Short answer: Almost every major LTL carrier is closed on Thanksgiving (Thursday, Nov. 26, 2026) and Christmas Day (Friday, Dec. 25), and most are also closed the day after Thanksgiving and on Christmas Eve. New Year's Day 2027 is closed wherever carriers have published it. The days that catch shippers out are the "limited" ones: Old Dominion runs reduced operations on Nov. 27, Dec. 24 and Dec. 31, and FedEx Freight and TForce Freight run modified service on New Year's Eve.
We pulled each carrier's 2026 schedule from its own website on Nov. 9, 2026. The table below shows them side by side, and the sections after it explain what the closures do to transit times.
LTL Carrier Holiday Schedule 2026 at a Glance
"Closed" means the carrier says it's closed. "Observed" means the carrier lists the day as a holiday without saying how service changes, so call your terminal. "Not listed" means the carrier hasn't published that date yet.
| Carrier | Thu Nov 26 | Fri Nov 27 | Thu Dec 24 | Fri Dec 25 | Thu Dec 31 | Fri Jan 1, 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FedEx Freight | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Prearranged only | Closed |
| Old Dominion | Closed | Limited | Limited | Closed | Limited | Closed |
| XPO | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Not listed | Closed |
| Saia | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Estes | Observed | Observed | Observed | Observed | Not listed | Observed |
| R+L Carriers | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Not listed | Closed |
| ABF Freight | Service may be curtailed | Service may be curtailed | Service may be curtailed | Service may be curtailed | Not listed | Service may be curtailed |
| TForce Freight | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Modified service | Closed |
| Averitt | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Not listed | Closed |
| Dayton Freight | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Roadrunner | Observed | Observed | Observed | Observed | Not listed | Observed |
Sources, each carrier's own holiday page: FedEx Freight, Old Dominion, XPO, Saia, Estes, R+L Carriers, ABF Freight, TForce Freight, Averitt, Dayton Freight, Roadrunner.
ABF doesn't publish one national holiday page. Its holiday notice appears on each service center page, so we've linked the Columbus, Ohio terminal as an example. The wording there is "Service may be curtailed. Contact local service center for details."
Thanksgiving 2026: Plan for a Four-Day Gap
Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, Nov. 26. Nearly every carrier in the table is closed that day and the next, so for most LTL freight the week effectively ends on Wednesday, Nov. 25, and starts again on Monday, Nov. 30.
FedEx Freight is open on Wednesday the 25th and closed Thursday and Friday. Old Dominion is closed on Thanksgiving but open with "limited/reduced holiday operations" on Friday, and it asks shippers and receivers to call the local service center before counting on a pickup or delivery that day.
The week before Thanksgiving is also busy for refrigerated freight. DAT's late-October market report pointed out that reefer volume tends to jump in the days leading up to the holiday, as grocers stock up on turkeys, produce and dairy. If you ship food, book early that week, and see our guide to refrigerated freight shipping for what to expect on reefer rates.
Christmas 2026: Closed Thursday and Friday
Christmas Eve is Thursday, Dec. 24, and Christmas Day is Friday, Dec. 25. Most carriers are closed on both. Old Dominion is the main exception, with limited operations on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas Day.
FedEx Freight also has two quieter days on either side. Wednesday, Dec. 23, is a modified service day, with normal pickup and delivery but a modified linehaul schedule, so freight picked up that day moves slower than usual. Saturday, Dec. 26, is closed. In practice, freight that misses a Tuesday, Dec. 22, pickup may not move much until Monday, Dec. 28.
New Year's 2027: Watch New Year's Eve
New Year's Day falls on Friday, Jan. 1, 2027, and every carrier that has published the date lists it as closed or observed. New Year's Eve is where schedules split:
FedEx Freight is open on Dec. 31 "with only prearranged pickup and delivery shipments being made."
TForce Freight keeps pickup and delivery running on Dec. 31 but slows its linehaul network, so anything collected that day takes one extra day to arrive.
Old Dominion runs limited operations, and those days don't count as service days.
Several carriers, including Saia and Dayton Freight, haven't posted New Year's dates yet. If you have freight moving that week, ask your carrier rep for the schedule in writing.
How Holiday Closures Change Transit Times
LTL transit times are counted in business days, and holidays aren't business days. Some carriers also leave out their limited days: Old Dominion says its limited days "will not be calculated as a service day," and TForce adds a day of transit for freight collected on its modified days.
Here's how that plays out. Take a carrier that's closed Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week, and a lane with a three-day transit time. Freight picked up on Tuesday, Nov. 24, gets day one on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday are closed and the weekend doesn't count, so day two is Monday, Nov. 30, and delivery lands on Tuesday, Dec. 1. In a normal week, the same shipment would have arrived on Friday.
That's why holiday weeks also bring more storage and redelivery charges. If freight arrives when your receiver is closed, or a delivery has to be attempted twice, the carrier bills for it. Our LTL accessorial fee index shows what three national carriers charge for redelivery and storage.
Truckload and Parcel Over the Holidays
Truckload carriers don't publish holiday schedules, because each load runs on its own appointment. What changes is capacity: many drivers take the holiday off, and the trucks that are running cost more. If you have truckload freight moving Thanksgiving week or the week before Christmas, book it earlier than usual and confirm that both the shipper and the receiver will be open to load and unload.
On the parcel side, UPS lists no pickup or delivery service on Thanksgiving Day, and regular FedEx and UPS parcel service also stops on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1. Parcel and freight schedules aren't the same, though. FedEx Freight is a separate company from FedEx's parcel business and publishes its own schedule, which is the one in our table.
How to Plan Freight Around the 2026 Holidays
Book a day or two earlier than normal. The last full shipping days before each holiday fill up fast, and terminals clear backlogs for days afterward.
Confirm receiving hours at the destination. A lot of warehouses close early on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve even when the carrier is open. A missed delivery turns into a redelivery charge.
Ask about limited and modified days. Old Dominion's limited days and the FedEx Freight and TForce New Year's Eve schedules vary by terminal. Call the local service center before counting on them.
Protect temperature-sensitive freight. If freight could sit in a terminal over a long weekend in December, ask about protect-from-freeze service or a refrigerated truck.
Watch the rate increase calendar too. FedEx Freight's general rate increase takes effect on Jan. 8, 2027, right after the holidays. Our tracker of 2027 freight rate increases lists every carrier's date.
If you'd rather have someone else line up holiday freight, you can request an LTL quote and we'll compare carriers whose schedules fit your dates.
How We Built This Schedule
Every date in this article comes from the carrier's own website, checked on Nov. 9, 2026. Where a carrier lists a day as a holiday without saying it's closed, we wrote "observed" rather than guessing. We left out carriers whose 2026 schedule we couldn't confirm, including Southeastern Freight Lines and Central Transport, and AAA Cooper, whose page doesn't show a year. Carriers can change their schedules, so check with your carrier before a time-critical shipment. We'll update this page as more carriers publish their New Year's dates.
Holiday Freight Schedule FAQ
Are LTL carriers open on Thanksgiving 2026?
No. FedEx Freight, Old Dominion, XPO, Saia, R+L, TForce, Averitt and Dayton Freight are all closed on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2026. Estes, ABF and Roadrunner list it as an observed holiday.
Are freight carriers open the day after Thanksgiving?
Most are closed on Friday, Nov. 27, 2026, including FedEx Freight, XPO, Saia, R+L, TForce, Averitt and Dayton Freight. Old Dominion is open with limited operations that day.
Is FedEx Freight open on Christmas Eve 2026?
No. FedEx Freight is closed on Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, 2026, and also on Saturday, Dec. 26. Wednesday, Dec. 23, is a modified service day.
Do LTL carriers pick up freight on New Year's Eve?
Some do, on a reduced basis. FedEx Freight handles only prearranged pickups and deliveries on Dec. 31, 2026, TForce Freight runs modified service with an extra transit day, and Old Dominion runs limited operations. Check with your carrier before scheduling.
Do holidays count as transit days for LTL freight?
No. Transit times count business days only, so closed holidays push delivery back. Old Dominion also doesn't count its limited operations days as service days, and TForce adds a day of transit for freight collected on its modified days.
Cover photo: Anthony on Pexels.
