USDOT Agency Nixes Upgraded Rear Impact Guards
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) last month rejected that the agency mandate stricter upgrades to rear impact guards on semi-trailers.
Operational Costs Jump Over 6% in 2023
ATRI Details 12.5% Increase in Truck Insurance
In its 2024 Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) reported that trucking’s operational costs rose an average of 6.6 percent to $1.716 per mile in 2023. Some examples of costs that have increased are:
• 8.8% increase in truck and trailer payments, or $0.36/mile
• 7.6% increase in driver wages, or $0.779/mile
• 3.1% increase in repair and maintenance costs, or $0.202/mile
Truck insurance rose by 12.5 % to $0.099/mile, after experiencing modest increases in 2021 and 2022. (If you haven’t requested a truck insurance quote from ICSA’s risk purchase group, you can do so here.)
The report also cited the soft freight market for reducing operational efficiency as seen through an average 16.3% increase in deadhead mileage. Combined with lower freight rates, average operating margins were 6% or lower in all fleet sizes and sectors except LTL.
In the report ATRI also conducted an analysis of cost trends in 2024 and beyond, including carrier- reported changes in Q1 2024 costs. The full report is available at no charge on ATRI’s website here.
What We Have Learned About Trucking After Hurricanes
Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and now Hurricane Helene in 2024, with Milton bearing down on the Gulf Coast! Major storms, with major disaster areas and the need for emergency supplies, most of which come by truck.
FMCSA Proposing New Online Registration System
FMCSA is hard at work on a new online registration system, to “improve the transparency and efficiency of FMCSA’s registration procedures”.