NASHVILLE, Ind. – Carriers may be ready to replace their aging fleets, but their appetites for fleet expansion shrunk compared to earlier in the year.

That’s the word from Transport Capital Partners, which recently completed its Business Expectation Survey for the fourth quarter of 2010.

"Acquisition plans are principally replacements for aging fleets, but expected freight volume increases have acquisition plans ramping up modestly," remarked Richard Mikes, TCP partner.

This quarter, 40 percent of carriers said they would acquire (or replace) more than 10 percent of their fleet this quarter compared to 30 percent of carriers in the last survey.

"Most carriers have not purchased new equipment for some time and the pool of used equipment has been diminished by exports and scrapage while fleet utility is picking up,” noted Lana Batts, TCP Partner.

However, they’re not as keen on adding capacity right now. Fewer are planning capacity increases than a quarter ago, with 41 percent saying they have no plans to add capacity up from 34 percent last quarter, while a quarter of the carriers plan to add only 1 to 5 percent.

"Carriers have stifled expansion appetites because of increased equipment costs, looming driver shortages, and poor financial returns," explaned Mikes.

Those that do indicate they’ll expand their fleet size, tend to do it with owner-operators. "Essentially this means one-fifth of the carriers who plan to expand intend to do so by changing the color of the checkers on the board, and not by buying more checkers," said Batts.

Meanwhile, 13 percent of the under $25 million revenue carriers expect credit to tighten over the next twelve months compared to only 4 percent of those with revenues above that level.