For many, the trucking industry in 2023 can best be summed up by a single word: recession. While analysts and industry experts had been predicting a recession since the beginning of 2022, primarily due to a surplus in trucks and drivers competing over reduced volumes, the effects of the so-called “trucking bubble” bursting were possibly more severe than originally expected. 

There’s no doubt that operating a trucking business has become more expensive in recent years. In fact, the past few years have seen the highest operating costs on record. This has left many small- to medium-sized trucking companies, as well as individual owner-operators, to examine and monitor their finances more closely going into the new year and beyond.