Mike
Well-Known Member
“There’s no freight, no freight at all,” said Mr. Singh, the owner of Sam Trucking LLC.
Loads that would have paid $1,000 last month, when a rush to restock grocery stores briefly lifted business, now fetch $300 or less, he said. That isn’t enough to cover the pay for drivers, fuel and other costs for his seven-truck fleet which is now sitting parked.
“Nobody can survive six months like this,” Mr. Singh said. “How can I pay my guys, the payments on trucks, the insurance?”
“We anticipate a string of bankruptcies across the transportation sector,” Stephens Inc. analyst Jack Atkins wrote in a research note earlier this month. “We believe the next three to five quarters will be an extremely difficult time for small and mid-size carriers and for bigger truckers with limited liquidity.”
Demand is “falling off a cliff,” said Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents independent truckers. The group is lobbying for more assistance, including seeking additional funding for disaster and small business aid and asking Congress to waive certain taxes and fees, such as a use tax on heavy vehicles.
Loads that would have paid $1,000 last month, when a rush to restock grocery stores briefly lifted business, now fetch $300 or less, he said. That isn’t enough to cover the pay for drivers, fuel and other costs for his seven-truck fleet which is now sitting parked.
“Nobody can survive six months like this,” Mr. Singh said. “How can I pay my guys, the payments on trucks, the insurance?”
“We anticipate a string of bankruptcies across the transportation sector,” Stephens Inc. analyst Jack Atkins wrote in a research note earlier this month. “We believe the next three to five quarters will be an extremely difficult time for small and mid-size carriers and for bigger truckers with limited liquidity.”
Demand is “falling off a cliff,” said Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents independent truckers. The group is lobbying for more assistance, including seeking additional funding for disaster and small business aid and asking Congress to waive certain taxes and fees, such as a use tax on heavy vehicles.
For America’s Small Truckers, Demand Is ‘Falling Off a Cliff’
Thousands of small trucking companies that move the vast majority of the goods in U.S. freight markets face light cash flow, limited reserves and uncertain access to credit.
www.wsj.com