Page 14: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (Mar/Apr 2019)

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INSIGHTS

Transportation Industry Outlook 2019:

The driver shortage will once again shape the trucking industry in the coming year. For ocean shipping, that’s a real problem.

Any transport mode is only as good as the one that immediately follows or precedes it in the intermodal supply chain.

or trucking, the outlook hasn’t changed much in the last two cial driving age to 18. Fleet carriers will put pressure on insurance years: Too much freight and not enough drivers to haul it. companies to take a risk on these non-traditional, younger recruits.

F It’s both the best and worst of times all at once. True, this Fatalities decrease, severe crash litigation increases: While means the U.S. economy is still very healthy. But, it also means fatalities per mile driven have decreased in the last decade, there’s that carriers struggle to recruit and retain quality drivers – and been an increase in the amount of severe crashes at the same time. that can be frustrating. More of the same can be expected in 2019. This contradictory data can be attributed to increased speed limits

Here are a few predictions: and use of safety equipment in vehicles. This has led to more

The driver shortage continues at full speed: As the critical truck litigation, which has caused severe bodily injury settlements to driver shortage persists through 2019, new consequences will sur- rise from an average of $1.2M to approximately $2.8M per claim. face. For one, good drivers will see salary increases of as much as Having taken the insurance industry somewhat by surprise, these 20 to 50 percent over what they were paid just ?ve years ago. The increased costs will be passed onto the ?eet operator in higher shortage will drive signi?cant growth for last mile carriers to the premiums and deductibles in 2019. point that Amazon will begin hiring their own dedicated ?eet. Driv- Long wait times and chassis condition at shipping terminals: er recruiting efforts will ramp up to include a push for ex-military Drivers are still frustrated by long wait times and chassis that could personnel as well as government lobbying to lower the commer- have problems passing a roadside inspection. This will continue to

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