TORONTO — According to the latest Business e-Pulse Survey from the Ontario Trucking Association, optimism among carriers continues to rise and is currently at an all-time high.

The OTA’s second quarter survey had 72 percent of carriers who responded say they were optimistic about the trucking industry’s overall prospects for the next three months – up a significant 20 percentage points over the first quarter survey.

During the first quarter of the year a majority of Ontario carriers – albeit a slim majority at 52 percent – were optimistic about the trucking industry’s prospects. Since the OTA began its quarterly Business e-Pulse Survey in 2008, the first quarter of 2010 was the first time the glass-half-full crowd had a majority.

And now the optimists outweigh the pessimists by a large margin as only 10 percent of the most recent survey’s respondents indicated they were pessimistic.

Since the second quarter of 2009, the share of carriers who were optimistic about the industry has grown steadily in each of the five quarters since then from 27 percent to 72 percent today.

Most of the optimism appears to be based on a revival of the domestic economy where 58 percent and 65 percent of the survey respondents said that intra-Ontario and inter-provincial freight volumes were on the rise compared to three months ago.

The laggard continues to be U.S. freight, particularly freight heading stateside, where only 26 percent of respondents said they have seen volume improvement over the past three months and 57 percent said that volumes were about the same. Relatively speaking, northbound freight volumes continue – as they have for some time – to show some strength with 44 percent of respondents saying that volumes are up over three months ago, while 49 percent said there had been no change.

The proportion of carriers saying that loaded miles are increasing jumped to 35 percent from 16 percent in the previous quarterly survey, and 67 percent said the average length of haul is basically the same.

With regard to the rate environment, the mood of the carriers suggests that rates are currently stable with modest upside for improvement over the next six months. The survey also indicates that most carriers remain satisfied with fuel surcharges and the collection of accessorial charges. Also, encouraging is that a lower proportion of carriers, at 18 percent, say that it is taking longer for shippers to pay their bills than at any time since the survey has been undertaken.

In terms of capacity, 82 percent responded that capacity either decreased or stayed the same in the last quarter.

The number of carriers planning to add to their company driver pool during the next three months increased to 40 percent, up from 27 percent last quarter. Also, 65 percent said they would maintain the current number of owner-operators they are contracted with, while 33 percent said they would be increasing the net number of owner-operators they hire.