Economy Repeats as ATRI’s Top Industry Issue for 2024
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For the second year in a row, the state of the nation’s economy was the top-ranked industry issue that led the American Transportation Research Institute 2024 list of Top Industry Concerns.
The cause for concern: the combined impacts of rising operational costs with the lingering freight recession and declining freight rates, according to the report. ATRI’s annual Operational Costs of Trucking research also documented industry cost increases of more than 22% over the past two years — marking the highest recorded costs in the research’s 16-year history.
The annual survey report was released Oct. 12 during ATRI’s “Big Reveal” session at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition. The ATRI survey remains one of the most popular sessions at MCE
Also causing economic concern this year was the International Longshoremen’s Association strike at East Coast ports, the presidential election and the devastation from Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
Troian
“Without question, this has been another tough year for the trucking industry,” said Gregg Troian, president of PGT Trucking and a member of ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee. “Our costs continued to climb while freight demand struggled. But each year we can count on ATRI’s analysis to not only quantify the issues, but more importantly, what we can collectively do as an industry to address each.”
This year saw the lack of available truck parking retain the No. 2 ranking, and the proliferation of nuclear verdicts rise to No. 3. The largest climb in rankings this year was insurance cost and availability, which gained eight spots to No. 4. Driver compensation rounded out the top five.
The continued focus on transitioning the nation’s truck fleet to battery-electric — and the aggressive timelines and significant cost for doing so — drove battery-electric vehicles into the No. 6 spot, up four from last year’s survey.
Nos. 7 -10 included the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance Safety Accountability safety measurement program, detention/delay at customer facilities, the driver shortage and driver distraction.
As part of its analysis, ATRI tracked the emerging topics that generate significant industry interest but fall just outside of the Top 10.
The analysis can provide insight on issues that may emerge in the future as a top industry issue, as well as document issues whose criticality has decreased, including fuel prices, driver retention and transportation infrastructure/congestion/funding dropping out of the Top 10 this year.
More than 3,700 trucking industry stakeholders participated in the survey, including motor carriers, truck drivers, industry suppliers, driver trainers and law enforcement.
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More than 45% of survey respondents were motor carrier executives and personnel, while truck drivers represented 31%.
Among truck driver respondents, truck parking, driver compensation and the economy were the top three concerns, while motor carriers ranked the economy, lawsuit abuse reform and the driver shortage as the top three concerns.
Company drivers identified driver compensation as their top concern, while owner-operators/independent operators said the economy was their No. 1 issue. Driver distraction was the top concern of motor carrier enforcement personnel.
In other observations, ATRI’s report said 2024 has been a year of many new developments. The collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge after it was struck by a containership in March served as a reminder for the need for resilient infrastructure. Truck parking received substantial investment via the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Issues such as cargo theft and predatory towing received increased attention at the federal level. As some industry groups ended their appeal of California’s law enforcing narrower independent contractor classifications, others redoubled opposition to finalized rulemakings on battery-electric truck sales that are set to take effect for model-year 2027. At the same time, new technologies such as artificial intelligence were introduced with the potential to change business and operations.
ATRI is the nonprofit research arm of ATA.
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