Downward 7%
TRUCKERS: As a leading economic indicator, where do you see the economy trending? The trucking industry shows a modest growth in optimism in this year’s survey as 22% of respondents report the economy is trending “upward”—up 6 percentage points from 2024. Overall, though, carriers continue to maintain a level gaze at the economy with their sights on both positive and negative signs, resulting in 70% of truckers responding that they see the economy trending “somewhere in between” a positive or negative path.
Somewhere in between 70%
Upward 22%
TRUCKERS: What are your greatest challenges?
Driver-related (recruitment, retention, training)
70%
Insurance costs and liabilities
50%
Driver issues are a top concern for trucking companies. In fact, when asked about their greatest challenges, 70% of respondents say driver-related issues, such as recruitment, retention, and training, are among them—the top response in the category and a striking rise of 23 percentage points from 2024. The next most frequently cited challenges are insurance costs and liabilities and price pressure from customers and competitors at 50% each. Rising equipment costs also rank highly at 48%, but that marks an encouraging 10-percentage point drop over the past two years. Among the less-prominent challenges, supply chain disruption registers a 16-point jump to 33%, a possible eect of ongoing tari policy changes and the accompanying uncertainty they have brought this year. Demand for faster deliveries (17%, up 7 points) and providing capacity (17%, up 11 points) are among other challenges showing substantial increases, while sustainability requirements (19%, down 7 points) and electric vehicles (9%, down 10 points) reflect eye-catching drops as the policy landscape for green energy eorts has shifted. Autonomous vehicles have been attracting a lot of headlines, but just 2% of respondents see them as a challenge at the moment.
Price pressure from customers/competitors
50%
Rising equipment costs
48%
Fuel costs
33%
Infrastructure concerns
33%
Supply chain disruption
33%
Cargo theft/security
30%
Competition (intermodal, pooling, brokers)
28%
Government policies
26%
Regulations and compliance
26%
Technology investment
24%
Sustainability requirements
19%
17% Demand for faster deliveries (Amazon eect)
Providing capacity
17%
15% Finding and retaining customers
9% Electric vehicles
2% Autonomous vehicles
38 Inbound Logistics • September 2025
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