There is a growing and serious concern that mounting commercial pressures are putting the long-term sustainability of trucking businesses at risk. What we are seeing overseas, and increasingly hearing here in New Zealand, suggests the industry is under strain in ways that should not be ignored.

This follows an international trend. Australian parliamentarian Michael McCormack recently gave a speech about the “Trucking Industry Grinding to a Halt.”

Another Australian commentator, Paul Tranter, described the pressures across the Tasman this way:

“The warnings come from operators, industry associations, and analysts who have watched margins compress to unsustainability while co...