Things That Will Bother Trucking Industry by the End of 2019

By the end of 2019, fleets and the trucking industry, in general, concerned about some trends and issues that could be life-changing in the future. We will break down the five most interesting things in our post.

Poor Rates 

This problem has been around since 2018. Most of the spendings that fleets and owner-operators have are rising (e.g. truck prices, maintenance, fuel, insurance, etc.) Also, pressure from customers to sign agreements that lock you with low rates that don’t change for years.

Even though freight capacity is rising, rates stay the same or have very low growth. This must be changed, as the trucking industry losing drivers and the whole fleets because of low income.

Problem with Drivers

Fleets are losing drivers, and it is very hard to find new ones. Driver’s trust is also lost, as many companies lie about pay, insurance, benefits, etc. Adequate fleets who pay really well can’t find any drivers as they think that there is a catch in any attractive offer.

To solve this problem, trucking companies and fleets should provide drivers with honest pay and stop taking advantage of truckers’ dedication to their jobs.

Obscure Regulations

The trucking industry is bombarded with new rules and regulations while they haven’t used to the old ones yet. For example, push to allow 18- to 21 y.o. drivers to ride interstate commerce. Not everyone shares this enthusiasm. Also, the ELD mandate deadline, HOS revisions, and new entry-level training rules for drivers.

There is a lot going on, and most of the fleets and drivers can’t handle all at once.

Tech Progress

We are in times where electric and autonomous vehicles are developing rapidly. It is, of course, fascinating, however, it brings a lot of questions about the infrastructure.

Where to charge the vehicles? What to do with old discharged batteries? There is no answer yet, and it can intimidate old school truckers.

Vehicle and Equipment Maintenance

Even though we expect new tech pretty soon, fleets still have to maintain the equipment now and in the future. Also, it seems like it is getting harder to get quality tech repair on the road. Drivers have to wait for days to figure out what is wrong with their vehicle. That’s a serious downtime. 

Mechanics are also needed to be taught why their work is important for drivers.

Some other issues like insurance costs, tariffs, and truck parking shortage are also bothering.