Actually, this industry would probably be better off if one or more of the large carriers did go out of business. It would take a lot of capacity out of the marketplace. However, that isn't likely to happen. Most of the time when a large company gets into trouble they simply merge with another carrier. MS Carriers did that with Swift. I seem to recall Covenant buying out or merging with a carrier a few years ago who was about to go out of business. I don't recall the name. From the standpoint of rates, I think we would see higher rates with smaller carriers. When a carrier gets too large, they will take most anything to keep the trucks moving, even if they lose money or break even. They can operate on pennies when the rest of us need dollars to survive. They can prosper on sheer volume. I remember a quote attributed to J.B. Hunt that basically stated that he could make it on $1/day per truck. I wish I could recall the exact quote. Of course, he may not have even said it. But, if you think about the number of trucks in their fleet, that is a sizable about of cash. Small fleets could not survive on a net of $1/day per truck. I don't really want anyone to lose their jobs, but these large carriers are very predatory in their business practices. The bigger a company becomes the less they seem to care about their workers. Most new job growth comes from small companies.
|
