Bankruptcies hit the brakes

摘要

Fewer truckload carriers went bust last year. In 2004 there were approximately 1,195 bankruptcies or other closings in the truckload sector (not counting one-person/one-truck operations). That number was down considerably from the 3,990 closings in 2001, the worst year of the most recent economic downturn. Donald Broughton, the A.G. Edwards & Sons analyst who compiles those figures, says his crystal ball isn't quite as clear for 2005. But it would be hard to imagine fewer trucking closures this year than last, he says, for one reason: The high price of fuel. Still, the days of a direct linkage between the price of fuel and trucking bankruptcies may be over. (See chart, below.) That's because all of the weak operators have already closed, and the survivors in today's $2.30-a-gallon world are pretty tough operators, Broughton says.