Putting the finishing touches on a year provides a good opportunity to reflect on what went right — and what could have gone better — during the prior 12 months.
If you are in the business of hauling freight, plenty went right this year. By all measures, motor carriers have been busy and their operations lucrative. Rates have been strong, capacity tight. If only those carriers could find more drivers.
Those who have been behind the wheel this year have found their services in demand, and, in many cases, their wallets fattened. Increases in pay and attractive bonuses have been the temptations du jour that carriers have dangled in front of drivers all year, as evidenced by the many stories we have written about the subject. For good measure, there’s one more story about this trend in our Dec. 24 issue, our last for 2018.
There’s also another story about a short-term funding measure that Congress was pushing forward to keep the federal government operating past the deadline for a shutdown. It’s not the first one of these we’ve written, and, sadly, it probably isn’t the last. As of our deadline, it was unclear if the Senate and President Donald Trump would come to terms with a spending measure the House of Representatives had passed. One way or another, we’re guaranteed at least one story about a short-term funding measure in 2019, perhaps as early as the first issue of the year.
That first issue also will offer a preview of what we are expecting for trucking in the year ahead. The editorial team is expecting trade, infrastructure and the continuation of this year’s robust freight-hauling market to dominate headlines for trucking in the last decade of the 2010s, along with the continued digital transformation of the industry.
For this issue, however, our cover feature takes a look back at a year many will remember as a great one, with lots of revenue generated and miles traveled. Like any year, it had its bumps, but as we wrap up 2018 and head into 2019, trucking is positioned for good things ahead. We’ll be there to report the industry news, and we thank you for another year of your time and attention. We hope we’ve given you something good to reflect on as the year draws to a close.
