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Manufacturers of aerodynamic trailer equipment are like most companies confronting the dramatic economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but are in some cases also working to prepare for a moment when business eventually picks up.

Industry supplier Stemco has discontinued production of its TrailerTail product, which helped pioneer improved aerodynamics at the rear of the trailer.

Many trucking companies add various aerodynamic systems to their trailers to boost fuel economy, but how much fuel can these products truly save in real-world operating conditions?

To compensate for a slowdown in new equipment sales, truck dealers are turning their attention to parts and services as well as other revenue and profit generators.

Motor carriers that typically purchase new trucks sometimes find themselves in situations where it is expedient to buy used trucks.

For small trucking companies that are getting bigger, recognizing the point when it becomes necessary to adopt management software isn’t so difficult. Instead, the challenges have more to do with evaluating systems, choosing one and implementing it.

Although the federal electronic logging device mandate has been in effect for nearly two years, the regulation will take full effect later this year when an exemption for older e-log systems is set to expire.

The deluge of documents that trucking generates is increasingly managed and processed via automation. Providers of document-management systems said these systems yield labor savings and efficiencies.

The mobile device revolution has dramatically altered telematics and mobile communications in the trucking industry as technology suppliers have introduced an ever-expanding array of business applications for smartphones and tablets.

The telematics-for-trucking market experienced a dramatic explosion in growth over the past three years, driven primarily by the federally mandated rollout of electronic logging devices across most of the longhaul trucking sector. Now that the industry has made that transition to electronic logs, the telematics market is bound to undergo a shakeout because there are more ELD suppliers than the industry needs.