Lower Profits Have Public Truck Firms Anxious
A creaky third quarter for trucking could be followed by a rocky year’s end if recent warnings of falling profit margins from the industry’s major companies are an accurate indicator.
Not even the hope of a vibrant fall shipping season can motivate some company owners. The freight they need to haul is not available in sufficient quantities, and a number of them are leaving the business.
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Some of the nation’s largest, most well-respected truckload carriers have said that while they remain profitable, their earnings will be much lower than expected by Wall Street analysts. More troubling is that while the giants are stumbling, the small- and medium-sized tiers of the industry are being trounced.
Runaway diesel prices are the most-discussed aspect of the problem, but motor carriers are also being plagued by sluggish freight volumes, high insurance and interest costs and plummeting values for what are typically their most prized assets — Class 8 tractors.
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