by George Jared (gjared@talkbusiness.net)

The transportation sector and trucking in particular have been mired in an economic downturn for more than a year, and several stakeholders within the sector told Talk Business & Politics that there probably won’t be an uptick until the early part of 2025.

Arkansas Trucking Association President Shannon Newton said the trucking industry is suffering from a “freight recession” spurred by inflation, high interest rates and higher fuel prices.

“Economic conditions continue to languish in a lackluster stage. … There are mixed signals on an economic uptick. Even this week, new numbers were released showing a miniscule improvement over last month, but still underperforming from where we were a year ago, which wasn’t great then,” she said.

State of the State Mid-Year 2024: ‘Freight recession’ continues for trucking industry