Time to tighten the belt....

Really?

Tighten our belts?

Expand if you can.

I don't know what target audience the article is written for, but it is too simplistic and makes a little bit of an assumption that the fleets are all effected.

Here is fleet ownership 101 -
The “driver shortage” and “capacity shortage” are two different things. The driver shortage commonly refers to the availability of drivers in the market to drive the trucks that are on fleet rosters, while the capacity shortage is a function of having enough trucks available for dispatch. Unseated trucks don’t generate revenue, while a capacity shortage gives the fleets pricing power as shippers and brokers struggle to find capacity. And in markets with a capacity shortage, carriers and drivers alike are big winners. Nothing brings driver pay up like a good old capacity shortage.

OK the driver's shortage thing is missing something, it mentions the unseated trucks but it fails to tie it together with the overcapacity and why it exists in the market by explaining it correctly. It isn't about enough trucks to dispatch, it is about having the reserve capacity to anticipate customer's needs and having no short term or long term planning with capacity in markets that are driven by mega trends.

The last statement is wrong, it is opposite, nothing brings driver's pay up like a real driver's shortage which we don't have.

 

Freight goes up and down. Probably one of the many reasons it went down because all the drivers too scared to drive winters are out and about.

 

It really isn't, there is a decline in capacity happening ..
Finally .... but it is very slow.

I read the opposite from a subscription consulting firm and it shows that tariffs are not effecting the freight as much as it could but over capacity and a glut of trucks coming into the market that are being sold to expand marginal fleet operations are the real problem.

 

Tariffs haven't hit full swing yet.

As for driver shortage. With unemployment at it's lowest level in years. Who wants to drive a truck? There's tons of other jobs to be had.

But it won't be long before things turn ugly

The auto industry has already started layoffs.

 

I will have to consult my crystal ball on this one, right now they are trying to run me ragged.

 

It is not a tariff war in theory. It is an attempt to force China, and other countries too, to cease the unfair, immoral, and frequently illegal trade practices we have been allowing them to engage in for decades. Finally we get an administration willing to take them to task for it and the administration catches heat. People have been complaining about and demanding action on those trade practices for years, and now they are actually praising the administrations who did nothing about it. I look forward to the future of fairer trade with our trading partners if we would stand behind the administration. That is much of why China, and other countries as well have not given in yet. They know that there is not really any widespread resolve in our country to support our administration through this tough but neccessary time.

 

Economic Chaos Erupts! – Global Manufacturing Plunges, The Trade War Expands And The Nasdaq Enters Correction Territory




Morgan Stanley Sees Recession In Three Quarters If Trade War Escalates Further



Global Economy Cools Faster Than Expected as Trade Tensions Rise, World Bank Says

 

Sounds scary, Lol. I’m sure I’ll survive. Not looking forward to all the painfull stories on the horizon, never a good thing. But some things never change. Just part of it.