Freight Too Big For Highways

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics is forecasting that Freight and Shipping will increase by 70% in the year 2020. That may seem like a long time from now, but we do not have the roads or the resources to support that increase. According to the Orlando Business Journal in an article written by Kent Hoover he states:
“Manufacturers and large retailers like Wal-Mart, which operates a fleet of 8,000 trucks, depend on an efficient transportation system to keep their shelves stocked without having inventory gathering dust. But small businesses also depend on “just in time” deliveries.”
He goes on to report:
“Congestion, combined with rising fuel prices, caused transportation costs to jump a record 14 percent last year.
The trend toward leaner inventories also reversed itself, largely due to “longer and sometimes unpredictable delivery times,” says Rosalyn Wilson, a transportation consultant who wrote the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ annual State of Logistics Report.
“We face capacity constraints at virtually all major freight gateways, and congestion and bottlenecks throughout the system,” Wilson says. “It is no longer a question of if we will reach a crisis point, but when.”
Meanwhile, trucking companies are having trouble keeping up with increased demand. They can’t find enough truck drivers, especially for long-haul routes, says Christopher Lofgren, president and CEO of Schneider National Inc., a trucking company based in Green Bay, Wis. Plus, a 12.38 percent federal excise tax on new equipment creates a disincentive for expanding truck fleets, he says.”
The freight and shipping business today is working at max capacity and we need to prepare for the future. If nothing is done to increase our capacity for shipping we may find ourselves gridlocked without the ability to get good to the consumer.