Survey Says: Economy, CSA giving truckers anxiety

PHOENIX, Az. — Truckers across North America have lots to worry about in the coming year — CSA, HOS, fuel costs, driver availability — the laundry list’s as long as the Trans Canada.

And chief among the reasons to lay awake at night? The state of the economy.

Even though economist agree that the recent downturn, which was the biggest recession since the Great Depression, officially ended in June, 2009, few people in trucking are taking good times for granted.

So says the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), which has just released its annual “Biggest Concerns” survey. ATRI does this annually, and they seek the opinion of more than 4,000 people in the business.

And this year, their research shows that 35.7 percent of them, when asked what their top concern for next year is, stated "the economy" – which bested CSA 2010 as the industry’s biggest worry.

The upside is that the number is down considerably over this time last year.

In 2009, a full 51.6 percent stated the economy was the biggest concern.

The executive summary of the survey explained the change thusly:

“This decrease likely reflects the improvements experienced in the economy over the past year and speaks to the impact that increasing freight demand is having on individual priorities.

“Economists at ATA note that truck volumes are beginning to rebound, the oversupply of capacity is diminishing, and driver availability is tightening.”

Other worries besides the general economy?

In order of what has truckers most nervous to least, they are: CSA, government regulation; HOS; the driver shortage, fuel issues, transportation funding/infrastructure, onboard truck technology, environmental issues and finally, truck size and weight.

More than 4,000 truckers are consulted for this survey; and you can see the complete results here.