Trucking turns from pandemic to prosperity

From Transport Topics.

After navigating the disruption and uncertainty wrought by the coronavirus pandemic last year, the trucking industry has entered a historically strong business environment that many analysts expect to endure for the rest of 2021 and beyond.

Optimism abounds for the overall U.S. economy as a growing per­centage of the population receives COVID-19 vaccinations and pandemic-­related safety restrictions continue to ease, paving the way for a boom in con­sumer spending.

Some observers have even drawn parallels to last century’s “Roaring ’20s,” a period of economic prosperity in the aftermath of the 1918 influenza outbreak and the end of World War I.

Freight demand, meanwhile, has been regaining momentum since mid-2020, with constrained truck capacity supporting rate increases for motor carriers.

Nonetheless, trucking companies continue to face some persistent headwinds. At the top of that list is the industry’s long-standing struggle to recruit enough professional truck drivers, a challenge that is perhaps more difficult now than ever before. On the whole, though, industry experts believe the outlook for trucking is bright.
“We’re just in the beginning stages of this very robust recovery,” said Bob Costello, chief economist at American Trucking Associations.
“Some younger people have never seen an economy grow like this before,” he said. “People in their 20s and early 30s have never seen anything like this over a sustained per­iod of time.”
Costello projected that full-year gross domestic product will expand by 6.4% in 2021, which would be the fastest annual growth rate since 1984. He also forecasts 4.3% full-year GDP growth in 2022, which still would be well above average.
As the country continues to turn the corner on the pandemic, consumer spending will power further increases in freight demand.

See the complete article from Transport Topics online.