摘要: |
The $403 billion full truckload (TL) market is trucking's largest sector, and it's on the downward slide of the biggest roller-coaster ride in the overall $896 billion trucking industry. Starting in 2018, truckload carriers overcame the tight market for qualified drivers and posted some of the healthiest margins in the industry due to capacity constraints at the time. The following year was so-so, followed by the COVID shutdown of 2020 and then the recovery in 2021. That was followed by a boom recovery year of 2022, when trucking demand exceeded capacity-and rates skyrocketed. All of this has led us to the slump of 2023 that has seen thousands of operators exit from the TL market. Mainly, the exodus from the market has been owner-operators and those carriers playing the spot market, which has seen double-digit drops in rates this year. Tens of thousands of owner-operators-lured into the market by record high spot rates during the COVID boom year of 2022-have left the marketplace. Federal government data show that there's been a reduction in authorized American truckers-mostly owner-operators, but not all-for 51 straight weeks, as of Oct. 1. |