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tainable rate increases that are above
cost inflation.”
He uses numbers from less-than-
truckload shipping to drive home the
“GET RATES WHILE YOU CAN.” point. LTL carriers have seen a decade of
low- to mid-single digit rate increases.
–JACK ATKINS, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTATION The same can’t be said of the truckload
RESEARCH AT STEPHENS, INC. carriers. “In the LTL industry, the top
ten players make up 70 percent of the
market. In the truckload industry, it’s
five percent of the market.”
Among his final recommendations
in the ’70s may have morphed into a defined truckers for so long may also based on the story of the coronavirus
more traditionally professional looking be creating one of its biggest obstacles. so far, is to use the increase in revenue
driver today, one trait still common to One of the last bastions of rugged indi- expected to come from a strong final
many in the industry is independence. vidualism would have more bargaining quarter of 2020 and into 2021 to invest
There are 900,000 for-hire carriers that power if all those individuals joined in technology when possible. He also
travel the roads of the U.S., and the top together. recommends against the temptation to
ten carriers claim only five percent of “We’ve seen consolidation in LTL. aggressively grow fleets. If the Freight
that number. The vast majority of car- We’ve seen consolidation in airlines. Recession of 2016 is any guide, trucks
riers have less than 20 trucks. Plenty of We’ve seen consolidation in railroads,” that are fully loaded today, are likely to
truckers still like to work for themselves he says. “Consolidation is eventually sit empty once the coronavirus is under
or in smaller, family-like groups. The going to come to this industry…. It control and the market stabilizes. Better
industry is full of stories of self-made really hasn’t happened in truckload to to focus on improving efficiency than
men and women, Atkins says. But, any meaningful degree. And we need to bet on a future with so much change
he adds, the character trait that has consolidation to be able to drive sus- on the horizon. ATR

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ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 5 2020 31