Capacity…which in fact some indicators point to an up tick in available freight. Freight levels while down from the fat years of 2005 and 2006 still remain relatively strong. And there’s subtle signs of good news on both fronts.

In trucking pricing power is a function of freight levels and capacity. They have to pay the man if they want the goods moved. It’s not like dispatchers pay surcharges out of charity. Of course the key to collecting fuel surcharges is pricing power. Still the industry has done a pretty good job of managing this challenge.

Also for lease operators carrier arranged additional charges usually apply to loaded miles only. Surcharges tend to straggle behind prices at the pump by a few weeks. It’s not a flawless system particularly in a ascending price environment. As a result, profit margins for truckers stay relatively constant regardless the price of diesel. The widespread use and acceptance of fuel surcharges has enabled truckers to dump fuel price increases onto shippers.

Truckers spend a small fortune on fuel, but that’s really not the problem. Imagine what that poor guy with the truck pays. I just spent $62 dollars to fill up the Ford. People tend to focus on the price of fuel as the root cause for all that ails trucking.

Dig a little deeper, and you might find some cause for relief. All in all you could say the outlook for the trucking industry looks a little grim at the moment. The slowdown in the housing market continues to affect the demand of everything from wood to milk. Diesel is now over $4.00. We recently had talk of an owner operator shutdown – and that’s when diesel sold for $3.50 a gallon.

Fleet Owner tells us that truck repossessions so far this year have risen markedly. Landline Magazine reports that more trucking companies went under in the first quarter of 2008 than at any time since 2001.