American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 6.6% in all of 2018 – the largest annual gain since 1998 and significantly better than the 3.8% increase in 2017.
Posts Tagged ‘Over-The-Road & LTL’
US regulators weigh truck HOS changes
As the era of the electronic logging device (ELD) enters its second year, US regulators are focusing their attention on the hours of service (HOS) those ELDs are designed to monitor. They are mulling proposed adjustments to the HOS rules and may be pressed by industry to go even further and consider broader changes to help give […]
ATA Truck Tonnage Index Has Best Year in 20 Years
Truck tonnage closed out 2018 on a 20-year high with an annual increase of 6.6%, American Trucking Associations announced. The result was the highest for the federation’s seasonally adjusted for-hire truck tonnage index since 1998, when truck tonnage rose 10.1%, ATA said. And last year’s gain came despite a downturn in December, when tonnage dipped 4.3% […]
Industrial outlook cloudy but solid overall economic fundamentals rosy for trucking industry
Mixed economic signals are proving to be somewhat of a Rorschach Test for shippers trying to gauge freight demand levels heading into the strongest part of the 2019 freight season.
Another trucking strike: Will it work this time?
Truckers Stand as One hopes to call attention to HOS reform, parking and other issues during a nationwide non-driving day in April.
License delays bite into US truck capacity
Add another factor to the long list of contributing causes to the US truck driver shortages: Skills testing delays. Would-be drivers suffered a cumulative 6.4 million days of testing delays in 2016 alone, according to the Commercial Vehicle Training Association (CVTA). Those delays put 258,744 jobs on hold, at a cost of $1.4 billion to […]
Inflation pressure cools, but trucking rates keep climbing
Data on producer prices shows that overall inflation pressure calmed further in December, weighed down again by declines in energy prices. Industry detail showed that trucking rates continued to surge, however, driven by another large gain in long-distance trucking rates.
Trucking Industry Expected to See Slower Growth in 2019
Trucking industry economists say – after a 2018 that saw record-setting levels of freight-hauling demand and driver pay as tonnage levels reached a 20-year high – the industry is expected to remain strong in 2019 but undergo a bit of a cool-down.
Shippers, not just US truckers, own driver shortage
For years, shippers were warned about the looming driver shortage. Trucking executives sometimes were accused of “crying wolf” when it came to driver shortages to secure rate increases – until 2018. Suddenly, the wolf was real and had teeth, in the form of higher spot and contract rates and rejected freight tenders that drove double-digit cost increases.
Not Everyone’s Happy with FMCSA’s Preemption of California Break Rules
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s pre-holiday granting of petitions to preempt California’s meal and rest break rules for truck drivers, which differ from current federal hours-of-service regulations, is being met with either cheers or jeers from a range of trucking stakeholders.