Show Trucking Industry Hits Records The trucking industry promises to record encouraging increases in revenues and earnings this year over 1971 There are a number of reasons for the year's anticipated good The recent decision of the Interstate Commerce Commission to permit temporary freight-rate the re-institution of the investment-tax the benefits of a continuing upswing in the nation's along with the associated boosts in freight revenues and and the basic growth in trucking stemming from multi-destination cargo as business moves more toward the THE industry's revenues and earnings in 1971 reversed the downtrend of the preceding Reacting to the impetus of a larger volume of freight and substantial improvement in the stocks of most of the motor carriers moved upward in price during The suspension of rate increases earlier this caused a pullback in this sector of the stock BUT IN under an truckers were allowed rate As a result of plus the expanded revenues for 1972 as a whole may be expected to exceed last year's and profits should also be ahead of the 1971 As the favorable earnings are look for renewed interest in the common stocks of the trucking increases in the earnings in the first half of 1972 were still on the rise and gave the industry a head start into the remaining months of the current THERE ARE several factors working in favor of the trucking industry versus its major the These include the approaching completion of the interstate highway the growth of the flexibility of and the change in legislation concerning allowable of motor A case in point is the webbing out of business into Another plus is the growth shopping which can of course be best served by SHIPPERS recognize the flexibility of particularly in situations which warrant smaller-sized Under conditions involving multiple destinations trucks are virtually Due to the aforementioned factors among trucks continue to capture a steadily larger percentage of the freight dollar at the expense of the For in 1960 motor carriers accounted for 42 percent of the transportation dollar as compared with 49 percent for the By motor carrier revenues had exceeded those of the and by 1970 the share had slipped down to 41 It is estimated the total of the freight dollar going to the railroads may decline to some by IF THIS guess is then it is obvious that the longer-range outlook for the trucking industry is extremely The Research Department of Babson's Reports feels that marginal carriers may be hard pressed to compete against more efficient The latter can usually increase productivity by greater use of double employment of more efficient traffic and by possibly restructured primarily on the smaller shipments than a |