Trucking Sees Silver Lining at End of Stormy Year

img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/printeditiontag_new.gif" width=120 align=right>The summer of 2002 saw the takedown of one of the oldest, most venerated trucking companies, an event that seemed to put an exclamation mark on a stormy year for the industry.

But by year's end, despite a still sluggish economy and the cost of adopting terrorism-prevention measures, some truckers were looking at a silver lining — an improving profit picture and the possibility of being able to raise rates and make them stick in the face of less competition.

The collapse of Consolidated Freightways, the largest carrier ever to declare bankruptcy, was announced on Labor Day. It cost the Teamsters more than 15,000 jobs — union President James P. Hoffa called the loss "devastating" — but it was not a sudden act. And it could not be blamed solely on the poor performance of the economy since late 2001.