Over the last year, freight demand has increased to an overwhelming amount, and it has had a direct impact on the trucking industry. The coronavirus pandemic led to a lockdown all across the U.S and people were told to remain home. This led to an increase in e-commerce because the easiest way to purchase goods turned to online. When goods are purchased online, they may be brought in from somewhere international. After the good reaches the country, trucks tend to be the main method to move the freight to the stores or warehouses. The need for trucking rose because of the reliance on e-commerce.
Retail Freight Shipping Likely to Persist
With schools and offices opening back up again, national customer spending is having increasing attention on retail goods. Goods such as office equipment and school supplies are becoming a more common type of freight being moved. Another retail freight that is increasingly being transported by trucks is clothes. During the pandemic, people stayed at home and went to work and school remotely. There wasn’t a great need for new clothing but with everything returning to more in-person, many could have plans on updating their wardrobe.
How the Demand Affects LTL Trucking
LTL (less than truckload) shipping is the moving of freight that is smaller than an FTL (full truckload) and doesn’t take up an entire trailer. Freight for this type of shipping tends to weigh less than 10,000 pounds and may only take a space of a truck. As the U.S. slowly comes back from the coronavirus pandemic, the pressure to move goods is being added to the already large demand. With FTL carriers experiencing an excess volume of freight from shippers nationwide, the overflow is going to the LTL sector. This affected the LTL carrier sector around the U.S in both a positive and negative way.
The benefit of having such a large requirement to move freight for the LTL sector is the chance to make a profit for the carriers. Companies such as FedEx Freight have seen an increase in volume over the past few months and an increase in revenue. Despite this benefit, capacity is still strained in the LTL sector. Because of this, certain LTL customers are being forced to make difficult choices for their customer base. A tight capacity means that the LTL carrier may turn down certain customers for more profitable core customers.
Lack of Available Truck Drivers
While the demand to have freight moved nationwide has been increasing, there has been a growing shortage of truck drivers to meet that demand. The shortage has been persistent for years, but the coronavirus pandemic helped increased the scarcity. There are various reasons why there is a shortage of drivers including veterans retiring faster than new drivers are entering the workforce. Out of those new drivers, there may only be a small amount that are licensed Class 8 drivers. Many younger people are also finding other alternatives for work like going into the warehousing industry. It has even gotten to the point that trucking companies are bringing in foreign workers.
A1 Worldwide Logistics
There are many different parts of a supply chain that freight has to go through before reaching its final destination. Trucking, which may be overlooked in international shipping can be as important as the rest of the supply chain. When your shipments reach airports or seaports, trucking is what tends to get your shipments to their final destination. Contact us at 305-821-8995 or info@a1wwl.com if you are looking for a quote to move freight or want to find out about our trucking services.
