Campion said 480 trucking companies -- each with at least five trucks -- had become bankrupt. That followed more than 3,000 trucking firms that went bankrupt in 2008.

Howard Levine, owner of Ramar Moving in Frederick , said the trucking industry is taking a major hit with the economy.

"People don't realize that everything they get, from clothes to food to furniture, is brought by truck," Levine said.

"Ninety-two percent of Maryland companies depend exclusively on trucking for their goods," Campion said.

Besides rising fuel prices and other operating costs, Levine said customers have dropped off. And there is a significant rise in what he calls rogue movers who prey on customers looking to save money.

"They will tell you they can do the move for half what I would charge," Levine said. "The customer finds out later that they have to pay more or the mover won't unload or the movers damage goods during the move."

Levine is on the board of directors of both the Maryland Motor Truck Association and Maryland Movers Conference. He's been honored for his service to the industry and especially for consumer education on using a reputable moving firm.

The average cost of fuel on June 15 was $2.57 per gallon. This year's low was $2.04 in May, Campion said.

"That's more than a 50-cent-per-gallon increase in less than three months. While the current price is nowhere near where it was last June (more than $4.60 a gallon), it is climbing and companies are still waiting for the economy to turn," he said.

Though it is dwindling, trucking employs about 150,000 people in Maryland and pays $6 billion in wages. That is 6 percent of the state's work force.

Housing is a major factor for trucking, Levine said. When homes are built there are not only jobs in construction or direct-related work, but for trucking in bringing parts and materials, moving people in or out and supplying stores to serve the new homeowners.

"It is not just hitting trucking, but all types of shipping," said Clayton Boyce, vice president of public affairs and secretary of the American Trucking Associations.

He said everything from railroads to maritime businesses are suffering. "The amount of freight being shipped is down 20 percent from 2008," Boyce said.

In April, the latest figures available, tonnage shipped was the largest drop -- from April to April -- in 13 years, Boyce said. That was a 13.2 percent drop in April. It had fallen 12.2 percent in March from a year earlier. Sixty-nine percent of all tonnage carried in the U.S. is by truck. "Trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy," Boyce said.

Tavio Headley, an economist with the associations, said the industry lost 67,100 jobs in the first five months of 2009. In the same period a year earlier, the industry lost 15,300 jobs.

"Trucking is the first to feel a recession, but often the first to come out of it, if that is any kind of silver lining in the cloud," Campion said.

He said the federal Base Realignment and Closure Act of the government, which will bring the state a number of jobs, will help with some shipping in Maryland.

But many trucking firms are downsizing fleets and operations, thus cutting jobs, and many look for a "back hand," Campion said. "That is basically doing a hauling job from one place to another for a cut rate, hoping that once he gets there, the trucker can bring a load back for full price. That hurts all the shippers when someone begins cutting prices like that."

Boyce said economists at the associations are predicting a recovery beginning in the fourth quarter of this year or early 2010. That could lead to a shortage of trucking capacity, because of cuts now, and a rising cost to businesses using haulers and passed on to the consumer.

People need to remember that even if they order something online, it is still delivered by truck, Boyce said.

Almost all consumer goods are shipped by truck, Boyce said, because it is the most competitively priced. Air cargo is too expensive and railroads serve only 20 percent of American communities.

Post your comments »