Trucking in 2019

99% of freight is uneffected by that specific China tariff, so I can’t imagine a huge difference. Unless you’re hauling exclusively crates from China...

 

I haul.reefer people always have to eat. And eat they do just look at them. EAT CHEESE!

 

Hidden taxes to the end consumer is all tariffs are ...

 

I see better economy in 2019, may be the best we had since 1998.

 

All I know is I spent almost 3 days over the weekend dragging around Laredo trying to get out and told by several dispatchers the region was soft on freight. Considering the area is a sea of trucks and on the border it seemed unlikely but several drivers on the yard were loitering against their will as well.

 

Do not worry, we have the mid term elections coming and that will save us....unless the sheep awaken.

 

2019 will be fantastic as far as the economy. Whether that makes rates go higher time will tell. Volumes are still very high right now and will start to really ramp up going into the holidays. This will be a record holiday season by quite a lot I would say. However, it’s all about the over saturation of trucks. The economy can boom but if the supply of trucks still outweigh the demand for freight nothing will change or rates will decrease.

The tariffs are not going to have any affect on the amount of freight there is to haul. Consumers are going to consume, and at record paces since confidence is at record levels and wages are rising. Yes, lanes may get shook up and change but the freight is still there to haul. Maybe the incoming port freight lowers, maybe incoming from Mexico slows.

There is a way for companies to avoid tariffs and that is by making the products in the US. So instead of port or border freight you begin to have intracountry freight increase. New suppliers shipping to new customers, new jobs being created, those new companies supporting local communities in the way of new places to eat and buy things, more new jobs there. It all snowballs in the right direction vs enriching and empowering a foreign now super power.

So I definitely see some things shaking up a little but no doom and gloom. As far as rates go that depends on what truckers and trucking companies do. As long as they find bodies to put in the seats they will keep adding trucks until rates are in the toilet. If trucks sit empty but the economy keeps booming, you will see rates skyrocket. Big business wants unlimited workers to keep their employee costs down, but for the everyday average trucker who wants better pay and better conditions, a shortage is what you need.

 

Man, I'm not even sure how things will work out tomorrow, let alone next year

That's why I just keep putting one foot out in front of the other.

 

Freight will go up and down like it has been since trucking industry started