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2008 Looks Bad for Truckers?
Ray Kuntz, chairman of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) said this morning in kicking off the Ontario Trucking Association’s annual convention
“Unfortunately, we’re going to see significant bankruptcies, particularly among small carriers going into next year,” Kuntz said. He also noted that rail is also experiencing a decline in tonnage and it can be expected to put downward pressure on freight rates. Kuntz said he’s encouraged by comments by some major carriers that they would reduce their fleet size before accepting cheap freight. Major player Werner Enterprises said it would cut back its fleet by 500 trucks and Swift recently said it would reduce its truck count by up to 1,000, Kuntz said. “Rather than compete in this capacity they will trim back the number of trucks. We could see excess capacity disappear pretty quickly,” Kuntz pointed out. He said ATA is expecting the housing collapse and credit crunch in the US to continue impacting the industry with no recovery in sight before 2009. “Rather than compete in this capacity they will trim back the number of trucks. We could see excess capacity disappear pretty quickly,” Kuntz pointed out. He said ATA is expecting the housing collapse and credit crunch in the US to continue impacting the industry with no recovery in sight before 2009. Another major issue of concern for the ATA is the nation’s infrastructure. Kuntz said the ATA is vehemently opposed to tolling existing highways and prefers the fuel tax model for raising infrastructure funding. The US hasn’t seen a federal fuel tax hike since 1993, noted Kuntz, and he said the industry has gone from strongly opposing fuel tax hikes to favouring them as a means to fund roads and bridges. Kuntz also said trucking is being hampered by congestion, which has blossomed into a multi-billion dollar problem for the industry. Kuntz pointed out the cost of congestion has grown 8% every year since 1982 and the 200 worst bottlenecks in the country cost the industry a staggering US$7.8 billion per year. That’s negatively impacting fleet profitability and also the earning potential of professional drivers, he pointed out. “Who wants to drive in this kind of mess?” he asked. “We pay drivers by the mile and they can’t get the same miles they were getting four to five years ago.” Kuntz said “We need a real solid focus on rebuilding our infrastructure over the next 10 years” and added the US should focus more on fixing its infrastructure woes than being the “world’s policeman |
It will be interesting to see if these carriers actually follow through in voluntarily reducing capacity. If they continue taking cheap freight things won't change regardless of how much capacity they reduce.
As far as funding roads is concerned, there are plenty of taxes collected for road taxes. The problem is misappropriating those funds for other projects. I read an article recently which stated that about 1/3 of all highway tax collected is diverted to other pet projects rather than those concerning roads. We don't need more taxes. We need for those funds collected to be used for that which they were collected. I would like to see mandatory jail time for these crooked politicians who misappropriate public funds. |
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I agree 110% with this. There are so many "funds", from SSI to lotteries to road and fuel taxes, that are tapped far too often to fund some BS pork project that rarely has any benefit for the people, and this happens at the state and federal level. |
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Reducing number of trks
I dont know about swift & werner but jb hunt is definitely in the process of cuttung back the number of trks they have on the road.there trying to pass on trks to drivers that dont know any better or think there dif than others that have tried by leasing them off to drivers or just selling them. they are also going short haul and intermodal rather than OTR .also in my opinion there going to a training company YES you must have atleast 3 months exp to hire on but still i think there going to this so they can run them hard make money on them till they see the light then leave then next one inline Welcome to jb hunt we dont just care about or freight we care about or drivers. dont get me wrong i think jb hunt has/HAD there good points but i think those days are gone and geting worst
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