Image by RENE RAUSCHENBERGER from Pixabay
ARLINGTON, VA – Reaction to the coronavirus pandemic in the United States has led to many problems, including supply-chain constraints across multiple industries. Unfortunately, according to the latest edition of the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) American Trucking Trends, the U.S. trucking industry has not escaped the situation unharmed.
In 2020, the industry experienced a 13 percent decrease in freight (10.23 billion tons compared to 11.84 billion tons in 2019), generating over $732 billion in revenue.
“We knew that the pandemic had a significant impact on our industry, but this year’s Trends shows that despite those challenges, the trucking industry remained our nation’s lifeline – delivering the life-saving and life-sustaining essentials our country needed in a time of great need,” explained ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello.
Some of the interesting trends that emerged from the past year include the number of women who drive trucks, representing almost 8 percent of the entire trucking community.
Though there are some larger commercial carriers, ATA says more than 91 percent of all fleets operate six trucks or less, while more than 97 percent operate fewer than 20 trucks.
Still, the industry faces a severe shortage of drivers. Today there are 3.36 million professional truck drivers, and industry analysts say the nation needs to add at least 100 thousand more drivers in the next year to meet current demands.
“Having good data is a prerequisite to making good decisions – and year in and year out, Trends provides the kind of up-to-date, accurate data about the industry that decision-makers need,” ATA President and CEO Chris Spear adds. “That data is why Trends is found on the desks of countless elected officials, regulators and industry executives across the country.”
(SOURCE: All Ag News)
