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While the driver shortage is not new, COVID worsened the problem.

Congress and President Joe Biden are currently focused on improving America’s infrastructure, with a key sticking point being how to pay for the improvements. This debate presents an opportunity for Congress to finally resolve funding for the insolvent Highway Trust Fund by replacing antiquated funding mechanisms — such as the federal excise tax on heavy-duty trucks and trailers — with solutions that are more reflective of today’s transportation landscape.

From Sherri Garner Brumbaugh: It’s been said adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it. Having worked in trucking for more than three decades, I can safely say 2020 has been a year unlike any other for our industry. We’ve navigated countless obstacles and unforeseen twists and turns over this difficult stretch.

The coronavirus pandemic has changed the world. In the United States it altered the way our country operates and wreaked havoc on American businesses, but leaders in Washington responded with actions that helped mitigate the damage. I applaud these efforts and am confident that our economy will bounce back. But the work is not done.

While the supply chain may have bent at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, it did not break — and that was due to the dedication, hard work and coordination of many trucking companies, truck drivers, mechanics, dockworkers and others who met the challenge head-on.

With labor market data for the 2010s behind us after the employment report released earlier this month, the big takeaway for the decade is that a much higher level of employment was possible without generating inflation.

California’s effort to reshape the “gig” economy hit a significant roadblock earlier this month when a federal court issued a temporary injunction prohibiting the application of the state’s new rules to truck drivers, citing a conflict with federal law. The roadblock is by no means fatal, but it’s not insignificant — not when there are so many lawsuits left to be decided.

Shipping companies are taking steps to adapt to rising sea levels and make themselves greener.

When the laws governing the trucking business inevitably change, those who show up and speak up can help bring change for the better.