War had little trucking impact

Jeff Chung, head of the logistics practice at California-based investment bank USBX Advisory Services, said the war indirectly affected trucking through high fuel prices.

However, Chung told Fleet Owner that the economy in general is what dictates the fate of the industry.

"Right now, the economy isn't picking up much and as a result there's not much if any freight market growth," Chung said.

Chung added that many larger fleets are posting profits mainly derived from cost-cutting initiatives and "windfall freight" gained from the collapse of Consolidated Freightways (CF) last year.

He said the incremental growth pace of the U.S. economy right now is still making it hard for fleets to obtain freight rate increases.