Trucking Industry 2020

Trucking Industry 2020

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Last year was a rough one for the trucking industry across the board. Hundreds of companies failed with 24,000 trucks removed from the nation’s capacity according to Donald Broughton, principal and managing partner of data firm Broughton Capital. The trucking industry had a killer year in 2018. However, this led to overcapacity in the market which led to many failures as a result. Economically, trucking demands dropped last year. This led to lower prices which made it challenging for smaller companies with less funding to remain competitive and continue operating. 

John Kearny, the president and CEO of Advanced Training Systems (ATS) stated that unfortunately, he expects that small truckers will struggle and continue to go out of business in 2020. He believes that the economy for small companies is not good while larger companies will hurt but will be able to survive and continue their operations. 

On the other hand, Brian Fielkow, president of the multimillion-dollar trucking and logistics company Jetco Delivery believes the opposite. Fielkow is optimistic about the upcoming year and believes that the storm of a healthy economy will help freight demand and new trade agreements. He stated that there could be a scenario where it could be as robust, or even more, than the trucking demand boom in 2018. He stated, “Even if freight volumes don’t improve materially from 2019, it’s going to be less trucks chasing the freight.” 

With all of this being said, progress on the USMCA and a trade deal with China could potentially signal positive movement in the trucking industry. Fielkow stated, “The more we get out of this gridlock with trade I think you’re going to see demand increase.” 

How the trucking industry will perform overall in 2020 definitely has mixed reviews. The first quarter will tell us more accurate projections. When those are available, we will circle back on this topic.

For more information on the trucking industry stay tuned here on our monthly blog.