Selected COVID-19 and trucking industry news that may impact your business.
As of May 8, 2020:
Trucking shed 88,000 jobs in April as U.S. unemployment soared under coronavirus outbreak
CCJ
Total employment in the for-hire trucking industry tumbled by 88,000 jobs in April, according to the Department of Labor’s monthly Employment Situation Summary. That significant dip, nearly 6% of the entire trucking workforce, was part of the broader economy’s shedding of 20.5 million jobs in the month as the economic freeze under the coronavirus outbreak and corresponding shelter-in-place orders from states spurred a wave of temporary and permanent job losses. Read More
Will spring produce stabilize trucking?
The Trucker
Recent news has been all about the downturn in freight volumes, and the lower rates that accompany smaller volumes. Whenever freight markets go soft, we analysts like to look at changes that can help pull us out of the current pattern. In the midst of much gloom about the freight marketplace, we look for some positives that can help us through the next couple of months. Read More
International, Triumph providing masks, hand sanitizer for drivers
CCJ
International Truck, Triumph Business Capital and TriumphPay have purchased more than $75,000 worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) to be distributed to truck drivers. Each company purchased $25,000 of PPE supplies that will be distributed at select International Truck dealerships. Read More
BLS report: six years of trucking sector job gains have disappeared
FreightWaves
The number of workers in the truck transportation sector plummeted in April to levels not seen since 2014. According to the unemployment figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) this morning, May 8, 1,435,600 people were employed in the truck transportation sector of the Transportation & Warehousing “super sector.” That is down 88,300 from March. Both March and April figures are preliminary. Read More
Small Business Fleet Mileage Rises After Steady Decline
Work Truck
Data aggregated from more than 250,000 trips from thousands of commercial vehicles reveals the dramatic reduction in overall mileage from small business fleets due to the coronavirus pandemic. The latest data, taken from April 29, shows a slight recovery of fleet travel, led by the New York region. Read More
New truck routing program available from Homeland Security
CCJ
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, along with the Idaho National Laboratory, launched this week a new tool for truck drivers to assist in route planning. The free Commercial Routing Assistance web-based app allows users to input their starting point and destination, then plots multiple routing options and shows any restrictions in place in states along the route, such as those in effect during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More
Trucking braces for further economic disruptions through 2020
FleetOwner
Industry experts are projecting that demand disruption is going to create additional challenges for commercial trucking through the rest of the year and into the first half of 2021. Read More
For truckers, coronavirus aid loans either a tale of triumph or heartache
Overdrive
A little more than two weeks ago, Robert and Jan Van Liew felt hope for their one-truck independent operation Van’s Logistics fading. Their main accounts hauling loads of West Coast imports and paper products had run dry as the COVID-19-caused economic stall took hold in late March. Read More