The trucking industry has seen capacity remain tight throughout the year due to driver retention. This, coupled with the growing probability of a recession, increasing financial pressure on consumers, and rising fuel prices, is likely the reason that we won’t see sizable changes in capacity constraints over the next few months. Instead, trucking capacity is expected to increase slowly in the beginning of 2023 (after the holiday season) and could show more considerable improvement in the second quarter.
To ensure shippers secure capacity beyond observing the traditional “shipper of choice” best practices, they should leverage data and technology to streamline processes and stay competitive. Not only does utilizing data help shippers make predictions, but it can also optimize their operations, improve decision-making, and cut costs. More importantly, the use of technology-driven solutions continues to help bridge the gap between shippers and carriers by supporting more efficient payment processes and automating manual efforts.
The biggest challenge facing this industry, similar to most, is the rising costs of simply running a business. Truck drivers are facing historically high fuel prices and inflation is continuing to raise interest rates, and we’re not expecting to see those trends decrease any time soon.
Because the industry is currently in a down market, drivers have to be smarter than ever when making financial decisions — paying close attention to key metrics such as costs, load distances, and cash flow (not just revenue or payment per mile). Owner-operators, in particular, are the ones that struggle the most in markets such as this because they may have fewer resources or visibility into their operations to help them run as efficiently as enterprise companies.
The industry can combat this challenge by providing the kind of operational support drivers are sorely needing right now and will continue to need well into next year. Drivers need better tools to track their revenue, have access to market insight reports so they can see where on the map they should be going based on how rates are appearing, and have better visibility into their performance so they can negotiate for better rates.
It is crucial that companies trying to support drivers are enabling them to make those better-informed, cost-effective decisions because operational efficiency is more important now than it was even a year ago. Drivers cannot afford to be inefficient. This means developing mission-critical software to help drivers better understand their metrics, lower costs, and get more cash in their wallets.