Is there a 'war on trucking' afoot?

Such was the question Michael Regan, board member of the National Industrial Transportation League (NIT is primarily a shippers' group), aimed to answer in his piece in Logistics Management magazine. There, he detailed a recent conference call about the state of freight transportation with logistics professionals. Is there a war? he was asked on that call.

His answer is yes. "Beyond record low freight volumes," Regan wrote, "trucking companies are looking at potential legislation and federal rule-making procedures that could significantly increase their cost of doing business."

For his story, in which he make the case that a veritable "war" is real, click here.

More interesting was the response of Transportation Business Associates President Jay Thompson, via the glgroup.com site. Thompson there breaks down on a per-mile basis added costs that potential regulatory changes -- hours of service, emissions devices, Cap and Trade Legislation, CSA 2010 -- could have across the industry and comes up with a good 25-plus cents per mile cumulative addition per mile, no small hike in operating costs, as any owner-operator can attest.

Thompson's an analyst with a great sense for historical trucking trends and big-picture sorts of implications. And you know what they say about predicting the future -- you've got to know where we've been to see where we're going. Keep an eye on his GLGroup page for other of his analyses of industry articles.

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