Every year the American Trucking Association celebrates the hard work of the 3.6 million professional men and women who not only deliver our goods safely, securely, and on time but also keep our highways safe. Nearly every aspect of daily life is made possible because a truck driver delivers the goods and resources people need.…
As news of severe droughts seems to be a yearly concern, some farmers are looking to technology for alternative ways of producing some of our nation’s favorite produce. Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers. It conserves space while at the same time amplifying yield per square foot compared to…
Florida’s orange crop this year will be nearly a third smaller than last year and one of the smallest in decades after Hurricane Ian devastated citrus groves the previous month. According to the USDA, all-orange production for the 2022/23 season is estimated at 3.19 million tons, down 8% from the 2021/22 final numbers in the…
In a recent study, the U.S. Department of Transport (USDoT) found that the truck parking shortage exists in every state and region and is most acute along major freight corridors. There are about 3.5 million truck drivers in the United States and approximately 313,000 truck parking spaces nationally, according to the USDoT; for every 11…
Traveling to the recent Truckload Carriers Association Refrigerated conference in Traverse City, MI, it was hard to escape just how different trucks are in the state. Michigan truckers take it for granted, but to everyone else worldwide, the 11-axle truck/trailer combinations look like centipedes on wheels. Michigan truckers DAT interviewed said they have limited backhaul…
After a period of record revenues, this year small carriers and owner-operators have felt their profits squeezed by skyrocketing fuel prices, a softer spot market and rising operating costs. In times like this, it’s important to recognize that the market is cyclical. For owner-operators who optimize their business and weather the storm, this means reaping…
Overhyped talk of a freight recession in recent months seems to have missed the mark, for the time being, anyway. Nearly all freight marketing indicators have demand higher than the previous year and substantially higher than in 2018. According to the leading freight demand for-hire trucking ton-mile index (TTMI) published by Yemisi Bolumole, Ph.D., and…
Houston is one of DAT’s top markets, recently boosted by the surge in imports impacting capacity for all equipment types – more volume means more options for carriers and brokers. Traditional West Coast shippers have increasingly shifted imports to Gulf Coast ports to avoid potential labor disruptions and port congestion in the Ports of Long…
Hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean typically begins to ramp up in earnest around mid-August. But things had been eerily quiet without a single storm to be seen anywhere in August. After predicting an above-average hurricane season, many forecasters were left wondering about their initial predictions of a busy season. According to Phil Klotzbach, a…
September 27th, 2022–Determining the cost of operating a truck in 2022 depends on who you ask, plus a range of other factors, including the type of business (for-hire, private fleet, power-only, etc.), length of haul, fleet size, truck and trailer type, customer base, accounting methods, debt levels, and commodity hauled, to name just a few. It’s…