The economy and truck parking were ranked as the trucking industry’s top concerns, with battery-electric vehicles rising four spots from last year, according to the American Transportation Research Institute.

ATRI, a not-for-profit research organization, announced this year’s survey results during the American Trucking Associations’ annual management conference on October 12 with its 20th annual Top Industry Issues report.

This year saw the state of the economy and the lack of available truck parking retain their #1 and #2 rankings on the overall list, respectively, from last year's survey.

However, growing concern over the proliferation of nuclear verdicts led to lawsuit abuse reform rising to the #3 spot this year. 

The largest climb in ranking this year came in insurance cost and availability, which rose 8 spots to be the industry’s #4 concern overall. 

The Top 10 Industry Concerns for 2024:

1. State of the Economy

2. Truck Parking

3. Nuclear verdicts/lawsuit reform

4. Insurance cost and availability

5. Driver compensation

6. Electric vehicles

7. Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA)

8. Detention at Customer Facilities

9. Driver Shortage

10. Driver Distraction

Freight Recession

In 2024 the trucking industry has remained in the throes of a protracted freight recession that began in 2022, according to ATRI. Rates continued to slip across all sectors, tonnage remained below 2023 levels, while marginal costs continued to rise.

“Without question, this has been another tough year for the trucking industry,” said Gregg Troian, PGT Trucking President. 

“Our costs continued to climb while freight demand struggled. But each year we can count on ATRI’s analysis to not only quantify the issues, but more importantly, what we can collectively do as an industry to address each.”

As the third-ranked industry concern, lawsuit abuse reform has now reached its highest ranking in the 20-year history of the Top Industry Issues Survey. Among motor carrier respondents, it ranks as the number two concern after the economy. 

Additionally, lawsuit abuse reform (previously tort reform) is one of three issues, along with the driver shortage and insurance cost/availability, that were ranked as Top 10 concerns in the inaugural Top Industry Issues Survey in 2005 and still remain today.

One of the strategies ATRI identified to combat this was to advocate for elimination of “phantom” damages. 

Nearly 20% of respondents believe that the best approach for reducing lawsuit abuse is to eliminate phantom damages. These “damages” represent the delta between medical costs that a defendant is billed for versus the actual medical costs incurred and paid, often resulting in a noncompensatory windfall for the plaintiff and plaintiff’s attorney.

Battery-Electric Trucks Rise in Concern

For the second year in a row, the challenges associated with the aggressive mandates and timelines for electrifying the nation’s large truck fleet has battery-electric vehicles in the industry’s top 10, this year moving up four spots to number six.

ATRI research has documented a number of these challenges, from vehicle costs to the number of additional BEV trucks that would be required to haul the same amount of freight. Proposed strategies include:

Quantify the charging infrastructure availability and/or requirements and subsequent supply chain costs of battery electric truck mandates. ATRI research quantified a transition to BEV for long-haul trucking would cost over $1 trillion in electric infrastructure and vehicle purchase costs over 15 years.

The vehicle costs alone are estimated to be over $594 billion and in an industry with extremely low margins, those additional costs will be passed on to consumers as higher prices on all goods. 

Quantifying those supply chain costs is the preferred strategy of 47% of respondents. 

Nearly 27% of respondents said there’s a need to research the impacts of battery-electric vehicles on transportation infrastructure, crash response and first responder safety. 

A Tesla truck crash in California required more than 1 million gallons of water and shut down an interstate for 16 hours, prompting calls from lawmakers to slow the state’s electric vehicle mandates.

14.5% of respondents believe that the best approach for addressing battery-electric vehicles is to understand how a repeal of the federal excise tax would impact both the Federal Highway Trust Fund and the industry’s investment in more fuel-efficient trucks that can leverage advanced safety systems.

About ATRI's Top Industry Issues Survey

Over 45% of the survey respondents were motor carrier executives and personnel, while truck drivers represented 31%. 

Among truck driver respondents, truck parking, driver compensation and the economy were the top three concerns.

Motor carriers ranked the economy, lawsuit abuse reform, and the driver shortage as the top three concerns. 

The report also includes a ranking of the top concerns of motor carrier enforcement personnel. 

Over 3,700 trucking industry stakeholders participated in this year’s survey, including motor carriers, truck drivers, industry suppliers, driver trainers, and law enforcement among other groups.