trucking industry meltingdown too

Most people would have missed this little news story...

Donald Broughton, a longtime trucking analyst and managing director of Avondale Partners LLC, reported that 785 companies with approximately 39,000 trucks, or 2.0 percent of the nation’s over-the-road heavy-duty trucks, closed their doors in the third quarter.

That brings the total number of trucks pulled off the road in 2008 to more than 127,000 trucks or 6.5 percent of the trucks in the industry.

“The first three quarters of 2008 have already established a new record for the amount of capacity pulled from production within a single year,” Broughton wrote in his third-quarter report on the industry.

“Never have more trucks been pulled off the road in a shorter period of time than in the first three quarters of this year.”

Few trucks on the road means it's harder to get the things we need... Who knows there may come a day when the trucks just don't show up at the grocery story at all...

link to trucker news

Interesting, I have seen that rail traffic has gone up near me.. we have tracks a few blocks from our home they run to Canada.. But the traffic has been grain bin cars latley.. with harvest and all.. not to many lumber cars or car transports.. hell, I have not seen a car transport car in weeks.

But yeah trucking took it hard with the fuel prices, especially the private haulers, at 4.00 + a gallon.. Heck I filled my diesel pickup up with 3.50 a gallon and had 1/4 tank left and it was over $100, can't imaging filling 200 gallons every 1200 or so miles..

It used to be that Diesel was cheaper than gasoline.. now its always .50 to 1.00 more than gas.. they blame that on the new low sulfur fuel formulas.

reply to post by E-ville


Fuel costs are a minor issue that cost gets past along to everyone... No there facing the same problem as everyone else... banks just aren't making loans so they can make repairs replace worn out equipment and insurance has gone up two fold...

Trucking has never been considered critical infrastructure so no one will raise a stink until all the trucks are shutdown

the one thing about this credit crisis that never made any sense is exactly the point you make, the costs to operate are passed along to customers, I evern heard stories of companies not making payroll due to the fact they could not get credit.. well if you company needs to take out credit to pay a pretty standard expense such as payroll, then how viable is your business.

However yes they pass fuel and other expenses on to the customers, however the little guys , the independents usually suffer first. But yes i agree trucking is usually over looked, but almost every thing you buy is in a truck at some point. I'm not aware of any stores that have rail lines to the back door.