@Risk

What are trucking industry executives most concerned about these days?

You guessed it: the economy and government regulation.

On Monday, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) released its fourth annual “Top Industry Issues” report, which details the results of a survey of more than 5,000 trucking executives.

In addition to the economy and government regulation, other “Top Ten” issues include:  fuel, congestion, Hours-of-Service and the environment.

Commissioned by the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the report contains both survey results and strategies for addressing each issue. According to a press release, the report will be utilized by the ATA Federation to better focus its advocacy role on behalf of the U.S. trucking industry and ATA Federation stakeholders.

For even more perspective on today’s trucking industry, I suggest this article at TheTrucker.com. In it, author Lyndon Finney reports that the turnover rate among truckload carriers has plummeted well over 80 percentage points since 2005 –to its lowest level in 14 years.

The ATA attributes this to the current economic situation, lower freight levels and job cuts.

However, Bob Costello, chief economist at ATA, warns that high turnover rates and driver shortages are likely to return once the economy starts to rebound.

Truckload Carriers Association President Chris Burruss agrees, adding that once demand increases, it may be a significant challenge to fill the empty seats since so many experienced drivers have left the industry.