Werner

The chief executive of one of America’s largest trucking fleets is warning of the unintended consequences of “an avalanche” of state and federal mandates for electric trucks.

As the $830 billion trucking industry prepares for what could be the first full “normal” year since the pandemic caused tidal waves in supply/demand cycles, the “best of the best” are concentrating on strategy, operations and execution. Our trucking correspondent examines what’s ahead for trucking in 2023.

The decades-long and ever-perplexing truck driver shortage—estimated in excess of 80,000 by the American Trucking Associations—has eased somewhat, according to leading trucking executives. In exclusive interviews with LM, top executives say years of pay increases have apparently paid off in better retention and recruitment of qualified drivers.

Shippers hoping to capitalize on excess capacity in the trucking industry are advised to act fast as top trucking executives say they expect boom times in the second half of this year. Meantime, those executives are bracing for a so-so first half followed by what they hope will be a solid second half of 2023.

Omaha, Neb.-based Werner Enterprises, a global freight transportation and logistics services provider and the nation’s seventh-largest truckload carrier, said this week it has acquired Tampa, Fla.-based Reed Transport Services Inc. and RTS-TMS Inc., through the signing of a definitive agreement and closing on the acquisition of 100% of Reed’s stock.

Werner Enterprises, already the sixth-largest carrier in the TL market with $2.7 billion in revenue last year, expanded its terminal, fleet and driver footprint in mid-America by purchasing Milan, Ind.-based Baylor Trucking. Terms were not disclosed.

The acquisition of ECM will boost Omaha, Neb.-based Werner’s fleet by more than 6% as well as increasing coverage for regional short-haul freight in these geographic markets.

Unusual and unpredictable freight patterns, rebuilding supply chains with new inventory, an influx of owner-operators into the market and the worsening driver shortage for company fleets are causing trucking experts to expect a “very strong” market for industry profitability in 2021. That’s the word from prominent industry analysts and top trucking executives who are bracing for a post-COVID surge in the new year. They expect retailers to restock depleted inventory and are predicting a long-delayed rebound in manufacturing following the...