Shipping and Logistics
March 10, 2020
Berg on the Headwinds and Tailwinds of Trucking
Written by Tim Triplett
Steel prices declined significantly in 2019—not good for steel producers and distributors or for the trucking companies that deliver their products, said Jim Berg, president of Jim Berg Trucking, in remarks last week at the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.
Trucking is a highly fragmented market, dominated by small companies with limited financial resources. Seventy-five percent of the North American truck capacity is operated by fleets of five or fewer vehicles. “These are small companies that have a hard time financing expansion,” he said. “The bankruptcy rate in 2019 was double that of 2018, and that will continue. The margins are too thin.”
