Falling Competition Aids Carriers' Bottom Lines

By virtue of having almost 7,700 fewer competitors to outmaneuver than they did two years ago, many large truckload carriers reported better earnings at the end of 2001 than at the same time in 2000.

While 1999 offered a bounty of freight from Y2K-induced panic buying, the next two years brought forth plagues of high fuel prices and interest rates that yielded only to soaring insurance premiums and a strong recession for manufacturer-shippers.

Those financial troubles, however, have resulted in a reduction of capacity in the industry that could cause truckload rates to increase significantly if there is some heft to the expected economic recovery, according to trucking executives and stock analysts.

(Graphic by: Brian Kelly - TT) Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Trucking Freight Rates vs. Inflation

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