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02/19/2007 Trucking’s Top 10 Issues

A recently published survey of the top issues confronting the U.S. trucking industry provides some useful insights into the industry and the concerns that many in the industry have for its future. The survey was conducted by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the research arm of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) Federation, and was published in the closing months of 2006.

The survey was the second annual survey conducted by ATRI, and consisted of responses from more than 4,000 trucking industry executives and other transportation professionals. According to ATRI the survey participants "represented a broad range of fleets by sector and size as well as driver and other industry stakeholder respondents."

In addition to compiling the issues of most concern to the nation’s trucking industry, the survey also included a list of possible strategies for dealing with each issue. Respondents listed in order which of those strategies they thought would be most effective in dealing with each particular issue.

Here in first to last order, are the issues and strategies chosen as most important to the trucking industry in the ATRI survey:

• The driver shortage. 57% of all respondents ranked the driver shortage in either first, second, or third place as THE top issue facing trucking today. The preferred strategy, by 92% was expansion of recruitment efforts along with more research into prime recruitment target groups.

• Fuel issues and the volatility of fuel prices. This issue was ranked as the first, second or third priority by 54% of those responding to the survey. Two proposed strategies for dealing with fuel issues tied with 93% of respondents favoring each. First was increasing domestic oil refining and production. Second was increasing fuel efficiency in order to lower demand and reduce prices.

• Driver retention was the third most important issue in the trucking industry according to 43% of respondents. 92% felt that driver training that adequately prepares entry-level drivers for the difficulty of the truck driver lifestyle was the preferred method of dealing with driver retention issues.

• Hours-of-Service issues were chosen as the fourth most important industry concern by 34% of executive and driver respondents. In particular, they cited the negative effects that the 2005 rules changes had on team drivers. 90% of those answering the survey wanted ATA to advocate for more flexibility in the HOS split-sleeper berth provision.

• Congestion. Congestion was ranked about midway, (5^th.) on the list of industry concerns by 30% of respondents. That ranking was considerably higher than the 2005 survey, in which congestion was ranked 8^th, indicating that those in the industry perceive congestion as a growing problem. The strategy for dealing with congestion favored by most respondents, 93%, was advocacy for expanded highway and road capacity or construction, though most recognized the difficulty inherent in that solution.

• Government Regulations. Ranked the 6^th most important issue by 27% of those surveyed, the trucking industry is seen by many as a targeted industry where regulation and compliance programs are used not only for safety, but also as a source of revenue generation. Education efforts aimed at regulators were favored by 93% of respondents as the strategy best suited for dealing with this issue. These efforts should be designed to inform regulators of both the economic impacts of regulations and the effects regulations have on drivers and the industry as a whole.

• Highway infrastructure. This category was ranked 7^th on the list of the top ten issues by 22% of respondents. It differs from the higher-ranked issue of congestion, in that this category focused on highway design and safety issues. 92% of those answering the survey supported increased capacity and/or construction as the best solution to this problem. Respondents indicated they were aware that in the short-term construction would increase congestion. Even so, construction was still favored as the primary solution to the infrastructure problem.

• Tort reform. Though tort reform continues to be a hotly discussed issue within the trucking industry it declined from 6^th position in last year’s survey to 8^th position this year – as ranked by 19% of respondents. 94% favored advocating federal legislation that would regulate lawsuits and limit claim and damage amounts. Federal legislation was favored because it would create a single national standard instead of 50 separate State standards.

• Tolls and Highway funding. This issue was placed 9^th in importance by 18% of respondents in this year’s survey, compared with its position of 5^th in last year’s survey. Two strategies were tied with 90% of respondents favoring each. Legislative opposition to expanding tolling on interstate highways, and seeking new or expanded sources for highway funding, were both favored by an equal number of respondents.

• Environmental issues were the final entry on the list of top ten concerns for the trucking industry, with 9% of survey respondents selecting this issue. Not surprisingly, those answering the survey favored seeking methods of improving fuel efficiency as the preferred solution to environmental concerns, with some 92% seeing this strategy as the most effective.

The study is intended to provide insight to those in the trucking industry about both the long and short-term issues that confront the industry. It is also intended to provide a roadmap to enable the industry to focus its efforts on those issues of greatest importance.