My forecast of the most important changes to hit the trucking community will continue to be capacity and productivity. Can the trucking industry service its customers and steamship lines with the constant pressure being thrown upon it?
Those pressures include the rapid decline of company drivers and owner-operators who are leaving the intermodal industry for other modes of transportation or other employment opportunities.
The lack of productivity in our nation’s ports has put some of these operators out of business. Regulatory restrictions and cost of operations have added to the demise of drivers and trucking companies. I see cargo rates holding steady in 2009, while fuel surcharges continue to be fall because of lower fuel costs.