Fleet Survey Shows Business is Great, Drivers are Scarce
Business is good, so fleets are planning to buy equipment – but many would buy more if they had the truck drivers to put in them. Courtesy CKCVR
“>
How’s business? Better than ever, according to CK Commercial Vehicle Research’s first-quarter Fleet Sentiment Report survey of trucking fleets.
Fleets were asked, “Considering all the factors that impact your company, on a scale of 1-5, in your opinion, what is the overall outlook for your fleet in the next three months?” The average keeps rising to new heights – in Q1 2018, a new record of 4.37.
Freight demand is strong at most companies in the survey.
Planned equipment purchases keep pace, with the CKCVR FSR Buying Index only showing a drop because it’s compared to exceptional numbers in last year’s fourth quarter and because fewer fleets were planning to place large trailer orders.
Nearly 60% (59.5%) of the Q1 respondents indicated they planned to place power unit orders during the first quarter, heavily weighted toward larger fleets.
“While I don’t expect Q1 orders to be higher than Q4, the number of fleets that plan to place orders shows continued strength in truck demand,” noted Chris Kemmer in the report.
Some of the things fleets are planning to add to these new orders they didn’t spec previously include air disc brakes, automated transmissions, battery-powered auxiliary power units, and collision mitigation systems.
The driver shortage is still affecting two-thirds of respondents, with a number commenting that if they could find the qualified drivers, there’s plenty of business for them to add trucks to put them in.
Kemmer noted that the fleets that are planning to buy power units to add capacity are mostly those involved in building and construction, “not large for-hire fleets who are most heavily beset by the continuing driver shortage.”
However, she said, “Because of a continued driver shortage in …Read the rest of this story
