Executives Say Trucking Challenged by Operating Costs, Shipper Demands

ASHINGTON — Higher regulatory and operating costs and demands for cost reduction from shippers are the main challenges transportation companies will face this year, executives at a Transportation Research Board panel said here Jan. 13.

The panel, which included representatives of trucking and railroad companies, cited operating cost pressures due to everything from keeping good “supply-chain management” to a potential shortage of drivers as well as increased costs due to post-9/11 security regulations and the new hours-of-service rules for truck drivers.

“We are an industry of almost perpetual change,” said Douglas Duncan, president and chief executive officer of FedEx Freight, a unit of FedEx Corp. “We’ve had to develop work environments where we take these [driver] turnover rates way down.”