Driver Shortage Rolls Truck Rates Higher

Economics 101 is playing out among big rig fleets and rippling through the U.S. economy as a shortage of drivers is sending truck rates — and related pricing — upwards.

Some believe capacity may shrink further as a result of ELD regulations.

Not surprisingly, the ratio of loads in need of movement to trucks available is expected to be the highest on record, according to DAT,. There is “very little, if any, excess capacity in the system”, according to Avery Vise of FTR, a consultancy.

The ripple effect across the economy could be big and drive up the cost of consumer goods. The wholesale price index for truck freight transport in November was up 3.1 per cent year-on-year.

Compounding the situatio, supply in the US truck market shrunk in the autumn after hurricanes dealt a blow to Houston and other cities on the Gulf coast  That kept drivers from the region at home and requiring fleets of trucks to bring materials south for the rebuilding effort.

Respondents conveyed a similar sentiment in a Morgan Stanley survey of the industry. “Each week is a record-setting week,” said one carrier. “Drivers are scarce.”

DAT noted that that the spot rate to hire a 53ft-trailer van had risen 24 per cent from a year ago to more than $2 per mile.

Category: General Update, News