Truckload Update: Capacity Losses, Rate Hikes Expected to Soften Rough Road

img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/printeditiontag_new.gif" width=120 align=right>Despite an economy that expanded throughout last year, the road ahead for truckload carriers appears to be anything but smooth.

Trucking companies that haul full trailer- loads, a specialty that did not take hold until after 1980 when the industry was deregulated, now carry more than one-third of the nation’s freight and generate an estimated $250.2 billion in annual revenue, according to American Trucking Associations.

It is a business, however, that faces tough new challenges on three fronts — fuel, drivers and equipment. Taken together, those budget items account for nearly 80% of the cost of over-the-road truck transportation.