California’s Historic Flooding: Threatening the Trucking Industry’s Produce Season
Historic flooding in California has led to severe complications with the produce industry. This is particularly bad news for the trucking industry, which has already been suffering due to a drop in economic demand this year. Many truckers rely on produce season as a way to supplement their income, often referred to as the “100 […]
Owner-Operators at a Disadvantage in Today’s Freight Market
According to a survey conducted by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), the freight market is working against owner-operators. Over half of the survey’s respondents reported negative feedback for 2023, citing concerns such as high fuel costs, inflation, increased regulation, capacity, and a lack of demand. Many owner-operators are not willing to operate at a […]
Freight Outlook Not Optimistic from Carriers
Demand is slowly returning – a great sign in terms of the economic rebound. However, capacity is still up, which means many carriers are not feeling the effects of increasing demand yet. The Outbound Tender Rejection Index measures the percentage at which tender is rejected by carriers in regard to available capacity. Currently, it is […]
Bill to Lower Minimum Driving Age Reintroduced
A bill was reintroduced into congress that proposed to allow 18-to-20-year-olds to haul containers to and from ports. It is propositioned that opening the line haul field to a new, younger demographic would help to solve some of the issues with recruiting and keeping new truckers; especially after years of experiencing sever driver shortages and […]
Trucking Jobs Affected by Freight Levels
Driver recruitment is predicted to slow into the first quarter of 2023 as freight demand continues to return back to pre-pandemic levels. With the previous efforts to raise compensation in order to entice drivers to stay in their jobs, as well as to appeal to new drivers, trucking companies anticipate allocating funds away from recruiting […]
Freight Volumes at Four-Year High
Freight shipments have gone up 3.6% – more than a four-year high in August of 2022. This is according to the Cass information system, a shipment index that measures the number of intercontinental freight shipments across north America that tracks everything from raw materials to finished goods. Stronger Cass data is indicative of the ongoing […]
Harbor Truckers Protest AB5 Bill
The Harbor Truck Association (HTA) reported that on July 13th, harbor truckers were protesting at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach after the U.S. Supreme Court decision not to challenge California’s Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), also commonly referred to as the “Gig-worker bill”. Many companies that hire truckers to move their goods are […]
Ocean Shipping Reform Act Passed House of Representatives
For the first time since 1998, the regulations governing U.S. container trades have received an overhaul. With an overwhelming approval of 369-42, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA) of 2022, which President Biden is expected to sign soon. TA President and CEO, Chris Spear, said that the Federal Maritime […]
Trucker Recruitment Backed by Biden
The Whitehouse unveiled a new plan earlier this month to ramp up recruitment efforts for new truck drivers. Aiming to improve industry retention and the quality of trucking jobs, the plan intends to increase the number of truck drivers on the road by making it faster and easier to get certified. Officials report that the […]
