Fleet failures, measured in trucks pulled off the road, spiked in the third quarter to a two-year high, propelled by deteriorating rates, a stagnant freight market and gradually rising diesel prices, according to a new report.

Fleet failures, measured in the number of trucks pulled off the road, more than doubled in the second quarter on a year-over-year basis, but the resulting reduction in capacity isn’t enough to change the sluggish freight market truckers face, a new report said.

Fleet failures rose sharply in the first quarter as slackening demand, stagnant freight rates and other factors sidelined 3,585 trucks, about three times more than the same quarter last year as well as the final three months of 2015, according to a new Avondale Partners report.

Fleet failures increased sharply in the fourth quarter of 2015 and are likely to keep climbing this year as freight demand softens, a new report said.

Just 85 motor carriers, with a total of 1,025 trucks, went out of business during the first quarter as fleets feasted on high demand for their services and low diesel prices that form an uncommonly strong business environment.

Trucking failures virtually doubled in the second quarter, compared with the same period last year, as continued driver and regulatory cost pressures pushed more marginal fleets off the road, a new report found.

Trucking company failures reached the second-lowest level ever during 2011’s fourth quarter, reflecting the industry’s improving financial fortunes, according to a new report.

Fleet failures slowed sharply in the second quarter after a bulge earlier in the year, dropping to the lowest number in nearly four years because the trucking business is gaining strength, an Avondale Partners report said.