With freight demand growing and capacity limited, carriers find ways to get the most from their assets through tough customer policies and smart use of technology.

he trucking industry typically has responded quickly to increases in freight demand. For years, carriers added capacity promptly, with the result that freight rates remained soft for a long time.

As everyone knows, that dynamic has changed. Freight demand seems to be outstripping the supply of trucks, and the busy fourth quarter lies ahead. Shippers are unable to turn elsewhere, as competing modes of transportation – most notably rail – also are experiencing overwhelming demand.

Thousands of trucking companies have failed in the last five years. And with the economic outlook continuing to be uncertain, few carriers have been willing to build their fleets rapidly, even if they had resources to do so.

But most important of all, trucking companies lack the personnel to drive any new trucks they might buy. In a survey of CCJ readers conducted last month, 62 percent of trucking company executives said that a shortage of drivers was the single greatest factor limiting the growth of their fleets.

These economic forces were already in place when the new hours-of-service rules kicked in Jan. 4. The new regulations, such as a strict 14-hour window for driving and two additional hours of rest, challenged productivity. But perhaps most of all, the new rules helped carriers focus their customers on a specific, tangible challenge – and on the need for change.

“All of us in this business were feeling the effects, and we had to do something to fix it,” says Larry Miller, president of Logan, Utah-based L.W. Miller Transportation, a 200-truck carrier.