AUSTIN, Texas — The economy tops the 19th annual Top Industry Issues report, followed closely by the nation’s lack of available truck parking. The survey of motor carriers, drivers and other trucking industry stakeholders, is conducted each year by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI).
This year’s list of issues includes the economy, truck parking, fuel prices, the driver shortage, driver compensation and — for the first time — zero-emission vehicles.
“ATRI’s list thoroughly and accurately reflects the challenges we’ve faced this year,” said ATA Chairman Dan Van Alstine, president and COO of Ruan Transportation Management Systems. “Costs were up and demand was down, all while we worked to navigate a number of workforce and regulatory issues. Thankfully, ATRI’s analysis doesn’t just tell us what the issues are, it spells out a number of data-driven strategies that the industry can pursue to address them.”
In a year full of challenges that include high inflation, rising operating costs and declining freight demand, the state of the nation’s economy was the No. 1 concern. The lack of available truck parking achieved its highest rank to date on the overall list, coming in second. Last year’s No. 1 issue, fuel prices, was ranked third this year. Rounding out the Top 5 this year were the driver shortage and driver compensation.
A number of aggressive mandates and timelines for transitioning the nation’s vehicle fleet to low- or zero-emission vehicles put that issue on the Top 10 list for the first time. In this year’s survey, zero-emission vehicles were ranked 10th overall and seventh among motor carrier respondents.
Over 47% of the survey respondents were motor carrier executives and personnel, while truck drivers represented 29%. Among driver respondents, driver compensation, truck parking and fuel prices were the Top 3 concerns, while motor carriers ranked the economy, driver shortage and lawsuit abuse reform as their Top 3 concerns.
More than 4,000 trucking industry stakeholders participated in this year’s survey, including motor carriers, truck drivers, industry suppliers, driver trainers and law enforcement among other groups. For the first time ever, law enforcement personnel represented nearly 5% of respondents, so the report also includes a ranking of the Top 3 law enforcement concerns.
The complete results of the annual survey were released as part of 2023 American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference and Exhibition on Oct. 14. Click here to download a copy of the full report.
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
