Understanding the percentage of idle trucks

Don Ake and Eric Starks were posed with the question, "We know the active portion of the fleet but do we understand the idle portion?"

This Q&A response from the FTR experts came from our March Commercial Vehicle Update webinar. View the video and the key takeaways below. 

• Traditionally, the historical average of active utilization of trucks sits between 85 to 88% active at any given point in time. So when we're above that 88% active level, which we are now, then the pressure starts to mount.
• In 2021, we're forecasting just a little over 10% of the fleet to be idle.
• That means for the balance of 2021 on average, when we look at the full 4 quarters, we're going to see roughly 385,000 trucks sitting idle.
• By 2023, that number may drop to around 285,000 trucks sitting idle.

If you need to manage your transportation spend, or set budgets for rates, only FTR provides history and forecast for truckload rates for spot and contract, coupled with a freight demand outlook that helps you plan for capacity, letting you decide when it makes sense to go short on the spot market, or lock in contracts to secure capacity.