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COVID-19 has delivered a powerful shock to the economy and freight transportation, creating significant financial challenges for many trucking companies.

The world changed nearly overnight due to the coronavirus pandemic and governments’ responses to it. Industry experts share their views on how this public health crisis may change freight transportation in the years ahead.

Roadrunner Transportation Systems was in the final steps in a multiyear financial turnaround effort when the coronavirus pandemic hit, forcing the company to confront the same economic challenges facing all of trucking while also seeing its plans through, a company executive said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted supply chains and caused severe business challenges for many fleets, but it also will be remembered as a time when the trucking industry’s essential role within our society has never been clearer.

As COVID-19 spread across the country and the number of cases began to spike, some trucking companies and truck dealers made significant operational changes in their maintenance shops to prevent exposure to the virus.

North American Class 8 orders in May fell below 7,000, ACT Research reported, an uptick from April’s historic low as industry analysts said progress will be slow as long as COVID-19 remains a major concern.

Schneider launched a new marketplace, Schneider FreightPower, to give shippers access to an expanded and flexible capacity network.

Used Class 8 pricing fell for the 12th consecutive month compared with a year earlier, down 22% for the largest drop in that extended period, ACT Research reported.

Present conditions signal the bottom of the pandemic’s vertiginous drawdown of the freight market, trucking industry observers said. But other economic conditions, in place earlier in 2019 and 2020, remain as a potential drag.