SAN DIEGO - Truckers will have more than high fuel prices to worry about in the year ahead; they will also face a slowdown in freight demand, rising operating costs and a continuing shortage of drivers, industry executives were told here Sunday.
That will all put increasing pressure on company profits, according to a panel of experts who participated in a “Future of Trucking Roundtable” at the American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference and Exhibition.
Economist Martin Labbe, president of Martin Labbe Associates of Ormond Beach, Fla., said he expects carrier costs to increase 9% overall next year as a result of higher fuel, health insurance and driver wage increases. Freight demand will weaken, he believes, due to cutbacks in domestic manufacturing and a drop in consumer spending. Higher interest rates will make it more difficult for trucking companies to invest in technology and add to shippers’ cost of inventory.
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A surplus of some 70,000 used trucks – the result of a truck buying binge over the past three years – will continue to plague the industry for several more years, Labbe predicted. Too many used trucks hurts the industry by inflating freight hauling capacity and limiting the value of equipment assets on the books.
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