PHILADELPHIA, PA –The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) on Sunday unveiled its list of the top ten critical issues facing the North American trucking industry and the top one was a familar one.

For the third year in a row, this research arm of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) found U.S. hours-of-service (HOS) rules as the top industry concern.

For the past two years, major HOS impacts on supply chains were the impetus behind the first place ranking, according to ATRI. In this year’s survey, carriers and drivers voiced their concern over the uncertain future of the current suspension of the rules.

The complete results of the annual survey of over 4,000 industry stakeholders were released at the ATA’s Management Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia, PA, the largest U.S. gathering of motor carrier executives.

The ATRI Top Industry Issues report also solicited and tabulated specific strategies for addressing each issue.

Moving up a position from last year, the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s continued challenges with its Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program resulted in a second place ranking. CSA was closely followed in the ranking by the growing shortage of truck drivers. Related to the driver shortage, driver retention retained its fourth place ranking this year as trucking fleets work to retain their most experienced and qualified drivers said ATRI.

The lack of available safe truck parking rounded out the 2015 list as the number five issue. Since first appearing as an issue in the annual survey, truck parking has been on the rise as an industry concern. It initially ranked eighth in the 2012 survey and has steadily climbed to one of the top five issues.

“There is perhaps no better benchmark for the challenges we face as motor carriers and drivers than ATRI’s annual survey of top industry issues. As issues climb in ranking each year, so does our collective need to aggressively identify solutions to address those issues,” said ATA Chairman Duane Long and chairman of the fleet Longistics, based in North Carolina.

The ATA-commissioned survey results and proposed strategies will be used by the federation to better focus its advocacy role on behalf of its U.S. truck fleet member, according to ATRI.

“As we all know, the trucking industry operates in a complex and evolving environment and we must constantly work to understand how regulatory actions and operational challenges impact the industry,” ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said. “By improving our understanding of the issues, we can be better stewards of the important job our industry is tasked with.”

A copy of the survey results is available from the ATRI website.